


The Sloan Family

by audreylovesVM



Category: Grey's Anatomy, Slexie - Fandom
Genre: Baby, F/M, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2019-10-27 01:23:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17757134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/audreylovesVM/pseuds/audreylovesVM
Summary: After discovering that Callie is pregnant with Mark's child, Lexie Grey decide to go live in Boston where she won't have to face the fact that she will never be one of Mark's priority.After a month being in her new town, Lexie discovers something that could change it all. Everything she ever knew and everything she'll ever want.What happens when Lexie comes back to Seattle after her fellowship?Read to find out.





	1. A New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> hi! This is a fanfiction originally posted on Wattpad and Fanfiction.Net but i started reading fics here and i wanted to post it here too.

She couldn't believe Mark did it again. She was again left alone, heartbroken. He was gonna be a father, he was gonna have a family and she wouldn't be a part of it. He was destroying everything she hoped they would be.

No, she couldn't just stay here and watch, she had to move away. To be sure to never have to feel this kind of pain ever again. She was moving back to Boston.

She packed her thing and in one week all her stuff was ready and Dr. Hunt had transferred her to Boston. She explained everything to Meredith who did her best to understand. Lexie didn't want to lose her too, but she couldn't stay there.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < two months later >~_

She was waiting 30 seconds.

30 seconds and her life could be changed forever. 30 seconds and she could become a mother.  
How could she have let it happen? Mark would, again, have a place in her life. And she wasn't ready. She wasn't ready for him to come back and destroy her again. She would never be ready.

Her phone rang, it was Meredith. She told her about the test and her sister promised to call her when the time would be up.

"Mer... I can't look. What if it's bad? What if I can't handle it? What if I tell him and he rejects me? What if everything that could possibly go wrong, go wrong?"

"We'll face it together, as a family. You should look now. Even if you're not ready because you'll never be."

She picked the stick from the floor and looked at it. At first, she couldn't see the sign but then it was clear.  A little red plus sign was on the stick.

"It's positive," the youngest told her sister.

That's it. That's what was gonna change everything. She was going to be a mother. She couldn't think only about herself. Not anymore, she had another human being to think of. Now she would never be alone.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < later that week >~_

Lexie snuck in an OB room around midnight while she was on call. She needed to know that the baby was okay and she didn't want anyone to know yet that she was with child.

She put the jelly on her stomach and watched the inside of her womb on the small screen. There it was, her baby. She moved the machine from a centimeter and she could clearly see another head.

She couldn't believe it. She wasn't only with child, she was with children.

She wouldn't be able to keep it hidden long. She had to make a decision. Telling Mark or forgetting about him and keeping her  _children_ from ever knowing their father.

What would she choose?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_~ < that same day >~_

Lexie dialed Mark's number a million times, but this time it was different. She was about to tell him he'll have two kids in nine months. She pressed  _call_ not knowing how he'll react. It rang three times and someone pick up.

"Lex, is that you?" Mark says, imploring her to say yes.

She hangs up. She thought she would be strong enough to tell him but she wasn't. She couldn't handle more pain.  
And even if he came back to her, what's the guarantee he's wouldn't break her heart again?

No. She didn't have to think about what was best for her. She had to do it alone for her children, for them to never feel left behind.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~ _<  _ _42_ _weeks into the pregnancy >~_

Meredith came to Boston to be there for her sister. Lexie is two days past her due date and she's not able to do anything on her own. Her hormones are taking over her body and she can't wait to be alone in her skin.   
Meredith came in Boston a week before Lexie's due date. They talked every night using a phone since Lexie learned she was having a baby. They eventually had to tell Derek the situation and they chose to tell him the truth. Derek knew Mark was the father of Lexie's children but choose to  _forget_ to mention it to his best friend.

So, Lexie and Meredith were laying in bed, next to each other. Since Lexie was so big, they couldn't do anything but wait.

"Have you decided what you're gonna do?"

"I'm not gonna tell Mark unless I have no choice." The youngest answered her sister.

When Lexie mentioned Mark's name, she felt a kick. But it wasn't the usual kick, this one was strong and it made her pee on herself.

"Oh, sh*t. I peed on myself" she says trying to get up.

"Lexie. It's not pee." Her sister said. "It's blood. Your water broke."

The oldest help her sister to get up and they both went to the car.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < 36 hours later >~_

Lexie held in her arms her two little angels, Leslie and Brian. She couldn't believe she was a mother. She knew she would be a good one because she wanted to make her mother proud, even if she was dead.

These babies were proof that there weren't only bad things coming out from her's and Mark's relationship. There was these two that came right from paradise.


	2. Welcome Home

Lexie was moving back to Seattle with her two kids after 5 years. She was going back to this city where everything had begin. She was going to go live next door to her sister and her three kids: Zola, Bailey, and Ellis.

The twins were almost five now. It was time they went back. Mark would've probably forgotten her by now and have a wife and a tons of mini-mes. That thought made Lexie sad but at the same time, she wanted him to be happy.

Leslie was the oldest twin, she looks exactly like her mother but she had this charming side that came from Mark, on the other side, Brian looked a lot like his father but, he didn't act like Lexie at all. Growing up, the twins had changed considerably. They went from the stage where they did everything together and against their mother, to the stage where they hated each other and didn't speak if the other was in the room and finally where they only cared about sugar.

Lexie had changed a lot too in these five years. She was definitely more mature, and she cared a lot less about herself. Everything she was doing was for her kids. But the changes weren't only on the inside. Her appearance had changed too. Shortly after the twins' birth, she had cut her hair at the level of her jaw, where they weren't able to reach them, she had also gone through a lot of color changes, but she was always coming back to blonde. Now her hair was blonde and shoulder length.

"Mommy, mommy!" Her youngest screamed.

Lexie ran to Brian's bedroom where she found him under a pile of clothes. She couldn't keep herself from giggling.

"I can't decide what to take with me."

"Oh, sweetie. You have to pack everything. Just put your clothes and your toys in the boxes I gave you this morning." She said, sitting down on her knees to help him pack.

"So we're not coming back?" He said sadly.

"No. We're going to live in Seattle where auntie Mer lives."

"But why?" Her daughter asked, walking in the room with her princess tiara on her head.

"Because mommy finished her job here and got an offer there." Lexie tried to explain to her children without giving them the real reason. "And auntie Mer need us. We're family and we are supposed to stick together. Okay?"

She was hoping her kids would buy that explanation.

"Now continue to pack, mommy has some things to take care of."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < a month later >~_

All the surgical staff was gathered at the main floor nurse station. The chief of surgery was giving her monthly announcement. Today was all about trying to help more at the pit.

"Now, before you all go work, I have a last announcement." Chief Bailey said. "As you know, we lost Derek Shepherd two years ago and the spot he occupied hadn't been filled since. Today I'm here to tell you that we have the pleasure to welcome back one of our old resident: Dr. Alexandra Grey or Little Grey as you might remember her, who is now an attending in neurosurgery. I expect you to welcome her as a full member of this hospital. That's all for today, now get back to work."

Everyone went back to the place they were assigned. Lexie just stood there, next to her sister. She couldn't remember the last time she stood there. Dr. Pierce, the cardio surgeon, walked to them.

"Hi." She said. "I'm Maggie." She said shaking Lexie's hand

Lexie knew who Maggie was. She was Meredith half-sister from her mother's side. She smiled at the woman. Knowing right away that she wasn't dark and twisty like Meredith was. She knew they would probably become friends.

"Have you talked to Amelia yet?" Meredith asked her sister.

"No, I haven't had the time yet. But I'm sure she will page me if she needs me somewhere."

After saying that, all their pagers rang.   
 _911 pit._  
They all read.

The three women ran to the pit. There, April all send them to a different trauma room. Lexie was sent in trauma room 5. She opened the curtains, and to her surprise, she saw Mark, inspecting the patient's wounds. She went to see to patent's CT scans. From where she was standing Mark could only see her back. He raised his head to see who came inside the room. He didn't recognize the woman, so of course, he had to ask questions.

"I didn't know we had new residents." He said. He knew the woman couldn't be an intern since she was wearing a lab coat. "Can I take the liberty to ask you out. I'm sure I could find a private spot where we could have some fun."

Lexie raised her eyebrows, surprised. But still, she didn't move.

"Mark." She said with a reprobating voice.

"Oh, you know my name. Good. I didn't catch yours." He said innocently.

Lexie turned around, letting him see her face. She could see the amusement look he had on his face fade in shock.

"Lex?" He still wasn't sure she was there. "What--what did you do to your hair?"

"Nothing, I changed it. Can we go back to the patient, now, please?"

"Yeah, of course."

She looked at him one more time. His hair was now mostly white with a little bit of gray. In one way, Lexie thought it made him look sexier and more attractive.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < at lunch >~_

Lexie was sitting at a table with Meredith, Maggie, Amelia, Alex, and Jackson. They all wanted to know more about what happened to her the past six years. She hadn't told anyone yet that she had kids, Meredith and Derek were the only one who knew and now that Derek was dead, Meredith was the one keeping the secret. But, as you know, secrets don't stay secret very long at Seattle Grace Mercy West.

"Lexie, " Meredith asked, " are you gonna pick up Zola, Bailey, Ellis, Leslie, and Brian from school today or do you want me to?"

"I can do it. I finish at 5 today." Lexie answered.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, realizing that Meredith didn't only named her children, she also named two other kids that no one knew. Maggie was the fastest to ask.

"Who are Leslie and Brian?"

"My kids," Lexie answered.

"I didn't know you had kids," Alex said, not actually caring.

"Since when do you care if I have kids or not."

April came to sit next to her husband.

"Hi, Lex." She said with her bright and shiny voice.

Lexie nod.

"Did you knew Lexie had kids?" Jackson asked his wife

"Wait, you have kids?" April said, surprised. "How old are they?"

"They are four, almost five," Meredith answered for her sister.

"Both of them? So they are twins. Do they give you a rough time."

"Yes, they are twins," Lexie answered.

That's exactly why she didn't want to mention them in the first place.

"You should see them run around the house when they are on a sugar rush. It's hilarious. You know what they say, twins are double trouble and double giggle." Meredith said.

That's when Mark decided to come sit with the gang.

"Who are trouble and giggle." He asked.

"Lexie's kids," Amelia answered.

She looked up at Mark, he was in shock.

"You-- you have kids?"

She knew how he felt, as she felt the same when he told about Sofia.  
Lexie excused herself and walk away. She knew that if he stayed longer, she would probably tell Mark the truth and would kiss him. But she couldn't let that happen. She was supposed to be over him and be as happy as she can be.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < 5 o'clock that same day >~_

Lexie was outside the school, she was looking at an old picture of her and Mark she kept on her phone. These pictures were a reminder of the old-time, where she was happy and with the man she loved.

She walked inside and waited for the kids to come.   
And she saw him, right outside the door. What was he doing here anyway? She remembered Sofia. He was probably there to pick her up.

The kids came to her and were all happy to finally come home after a long day of work at school.

"Kids, why don't you go in the car while I take care of something, okay?"

They all nodded and went to sit in the car. Mark chose that moment to come talk to her.

"So, how was your first day?"

"Mark."

"Oh, come on, Lex. I can't even ask a question to a friend?"

"We are not friends. And please don't call me Lex. I'm not your girlfriend anymore. I haven't been for a very long time."

And she walked away.


	3. Nothing Can Keep Love Apart

Lexie had a tough week. She lost three patients out of five. To start the week, her son had gotten into a fight at school and she had to quit work early to meet the teacher and the parents of the other kid. At the moment she thought that nothing could be worse but she was wrong, the other kid Brian had had a fight with was Sofia. And if course, all her parents had to be there and the teacher had to ask if Mark was Brian's dad, since there were only four chairs Mark had to sit on the same side as Lexie, which created the confusion. Which then led to awkwardness between the two ex-lovers. She was embarrassed. How couldn't she be after lying again and again to the father of her kids, who didn't even know he was their father. Everyone was asking about her  _husband_ or  _boyfriend_  and everyone was surprised when she told them she didn't have anyone. She was tired and wanted to forget everything for a night. So she asked her sister to babysit, telling her she'll own her one.

She went to the only bar she knew and appreciate in Seattle: Joe's. The same bar where she had her second first kiss with Mark.

Joe was bartending that night and since she knew he knew all the gossip of Seattle Grace Mercy West, she asked him about Mark. She was curious. Since she came back she hadn't heard him mention any woman and she wanted to know how his love life was. Not that she wanted to be in it again.

After a couple of hours, Joe had to take Lexie's car keys to be too sure she wouldn't injure herself or anyone by taking the wheels. But he kept her table open, judging she wasn't drunk enough to be intoxicated.

Mark came in later that night. It was Friday night and it was the  _couple_ night everywhere in town and that made him sad. Before, with Julia, it was their favorite night, their moment. But about two years ago she left him, unhappy because he didn't want to marry her and have kids with her. It wasn't because he didn't love her, he always did in a way, but he didn't want to invest himself in another relationship after Lexie.

"A scotch Joe," Mar asked the bartender

"And a tequila for me," Lexie asked after him.

"Nope, I'm not giving any of you two another drink. You are both drunk enough. You should go home and have a good night of sleep. I'll call you a cab."

The man and woman waited for their cab outside in the cold Seattle fall. When the first cab finally came, they were both almost frost to death. They decided to take the same cab and gave the address to Mark's place.

Little did they know that this night was going to be more steamy than expected.

It took three tries for Mark to be able to unlock his door. When they walked inside the condo, Lexie was submerged with memories, good ones, and bad ones. The second first time they made love when he told her Callie was pregnant and she broke up with him. All of this seemed like a lifetime away now.

In her drunk state of mind, Lexie was exactly where she always wanted to be all those lasts years. Home. She hadn't felt like this in such a long time.

She was so taken by her thoughts that she didn't realize Mark had his arms around her waist. She smiled to herself. Nothing was keeping her from being happy anymore. No secret, only the two of them. She turned around and put her arms around his neck. In a whisper, she said what she'd wanted to say to him for so long and what he had waiting to hear.

"I love you."

Mark lift her from the ground and took her to his bedroom. Even in this drunk state, he wanted to make it right. He had waited for this moment for five years. All those nights where he had dreamed of them together and it was finally here and he was going to appreciate every second of it.

Lexie pressed her lips against his, never wanting to let go. Gently, he took her shirt off her, kissing her arms at the same time. Giggling, Lexie unzipped his jeans and slowly took them off from his legs. There were no regrets. Nothing felt more right at that moment. Their body, naked against each other's. Sharing kisses and making love.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 _~ < the next morning >~_  
Lexie smiled at herself. She was smelling the sweet fragrance of croissant. One of her favorite food. She opened her eyes, expecting her kids jumping around in her bed with some fresh croissant they made earlier. But instead, she was laying, naked, in a bed she was sure wasn't hers. She looked around and remembered some of the things that happened last night.

She remembered being at Joe's drinking. A lot of drinking. And Mark. Then she remembered kissing someone and taking her close off.

The door suddenly open, letting her see the man behind it. Mark.

"Hey," he said awkwardly. "I--"

"I don't want to talk about it." She cut him. "Last night was a mistake, it shouldn't have happened. And I'm sorry if I gave you hope about us but it--it was a mistake." She said.

She didn't want him to know that she was wishing they would be able to do it again and never stop, that she was so deeply in love with him.

"Okay. I made breakfast so... it's going to cool down, you should eat it now. It's better when it's hot."

Lexie wanted to stay but she was sure that if she stayed, she would never be able to leave.

"I can't. I have work and my kids... shit! my kids." She just realized that she totally forgot about them. "I gotta go. I totally forgot my kids. Ugh, I'm such a bad mother."

"Come on Lex, it's not like they're gonna remember it when they're gonna be older."

Lexie was about to leave when she heard him say,  _Lex_. When he said it, her heart melted. But she had to be strong.

"Do not call me Lex. And you'd be surprised the things they can remember." She said, closing the door behind her.

She closed the door and she collapsed on the wall. How could she make him suffer like that? Why can't she just tell him the truth? But was it really worth getting her heart crushed again?  _No_ , she decided.  
She wasn't gonna be that girl again, the one he left behind. She was never going to let that happen to her kids. Never.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 **Flashback**  
 _Lexie had just given birth and her sister was next to her. Her two kids were sleeping in her arms. She was so tired and so happy at the same time. She had been in labor for 36 hours_ (yes, it's totally normal to be in labor for that long when it's your first child)  _and she couldn't be more happy that it was over. The universe had just given her two angels._

_"Are you gonna tell Mark?" Her sister asked._

_Lexie looked down at her two kids, so pure and innocent. How could she let them suffer what she had been through with Mark? Could she really let them always be second for him? No. It was her role of mother to protect her children from something like this and she wasn't going to let them be something less that they deserved to be._

_"No." She answered her sister. "He doesn't need to know. And they don't need to feel unwanted, ever."_   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Present time**

Lexie went to work, she was expecting a sermon from her sister but Meredith didn't give her one. She knew her sister was old enough to take care of herself.

Later, when Lexie ran into Mark at the hospital, she acted like nothing had happen.


	4. Wait, What?

After the night he had with Lexie, Mark was expecting to at least have some kind of reaction from her. He was sure she would talk about her feeling but this Lexie wasn't like the one he knew. He was expecting his world to be together again, like putting the last piece of a puzzle in its place. But it wasn't going to happen, not till he had the chance to talk to her.

As he was lost in his thoughts, he didn't see his best friend in front of him and he walked into her.

"Mark, watch were you're going." She said looking at him. She saw the face he was making, the one she knew too well. "Mark, what's wrong."

"Nothing." The man responds. He didn't want his friend to know how much a love puppy he was.

"Mark." She insisted

"I slept with someone and I can't understand how this can't mean anything to the person." He blurb out.

"Well, then all you can do is to try to make it work, that's what I did with Arizona after she kissed me." The woman advised.

"Thanks, Callie."

Mark walked away to go find Lexie.   
The woman was chatting with her sister, thinking no one could hear them. They didn't know that the very subject they were talking about was standing outside the door and could hear everything they said.

"Mer! I'm not ready to tell Mark yet." The youngest told her sister.

"So when will you, hum? When his kids will be old enough to put two and two together. I know I said I would never force you to tell him, but that was before Derek died and before you decide to move right next door to him."

"The plan was never to tell him, remember? He doesn't need to know that the twins are his."

Mark couldn't believe it. Did she really say that the twins were his? He should have probably pay more attention to them when he saw them the month before, but how could he have known? Why wouldn't she tell him? It's not like they didn't mean anything to each other. Right?

"Come on Lex, do yourself a favor and just tell him." Meredith almost begged her sister.

"He left me behind, Mer. I can't forgive him for that and I certainly can't let him do that to my children, they deserve better. You know that." Lexie said.

Did he really leave her behind Mark thought? Before he could answer his question, the door opened revealing an angry Lexie and an angry Meredith. Mark faked doing some work. He needed to talk to someone and he knew exactly who he would talk to about this, but that person died six years ago.

Mark made a trip to the cemetery. He had to talk to his oldest friend, even if the conversation was one way.

Mark took his car and drive to the cemetery. He parked his car right across Derek's grave. He knew that even if his friend wasn't in this world, he could always help him get some kind of peace. Derek had always been there for him and it was time to prove it again.

Mark didn't how to talk to a grave, so he simply looked at it, praying for something to happen.

It finally did. He found the answers he was looking for. He was going to ask Lexie about his paternity. If it was true, he wouldn't how to react. But it was always better to doing nothing at all.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < that night >~_

Lexie was sitting next to Mer in her old house. The kids were all sleeping and they finally could have a girl's night. They were speaking gossip and love. Meredith hadn't had anyone since Derek died 2 years ago. If she had, she didn't tell her sister. Also with them was sitting Amelia and Maggie. Even if Amelia was married and had a kid at home, she always took the time to come at Mer's to discuss everything. From annoying inters to baby problems.

"So... you still haven't told us the history about you and Sloan," Maggie said, grasping for juicy details.

"What is there to talk about?" Lexie said, still hoping to avoid the subject.

"You know, the fact you two happened and that now you're working together." Maggie continued.

"Seriously? It's not like any of you aren't working with someone you slept with."

"No, but we're not to ones who just came back after five years." Amelia had.

"Come on, Lexie. Just tell them." Meredith encouraged her sister.

"Okay, but you have to promise to not say a thing."

"Promise." Both Amelia and Maggie said.

"It all started when I was an intern. We had a case and he was  _amazing_ , the sexual tension between us was growing more and more every time we worked together. And when that woman finally spoke, it's like it had hit its summit. So I went to his room and I asked him to teach me. Then we had a secret relationship for quite some time. I broke his penis and..."

"You broke his penis?!" Maggie said.

"You promised."

"Sorry."

"Then we told everyone." Lexie continued. "And his daughter came back and well, we broke up. I was with Alex until I almost got shot and I realized that I wanted to be with Mark. We got together again and it was  _great_  until he told me that Callie was pregnant and that he was the father. Which made it impossible for me to stay so I went to Boston and well, you know the rest."

The girls stayed quiet for a couple minutes then Amelia interrupted the silence.

"I bet $50 that something happened since she came back."

"20 that nothing is gonna happen ever again," Maggie said.

"50 that she's in love," Meredith added

"Seriously! You guys are awful." Lexie said getting up. "I need to go home. Goodnight."

She left the girls to plot some theories about her and Mark. Maybe it wasn't over. Maybe they still had a chance.

 


	5. When Love Hurts

Mark had to talk to Lexie and he knew how to. He had Kepner page her. He knew that if she was paged at the pit, she would come ten times faster. So he waited, sitting on bed 8 with the curtain closed so she wouldn't suspect anything.

"Where do you need me?" He heard her say.

"Bed 8," April responded.

Mark heard footsteps coming toward him. Lexie opened the curtains and smirked.

"Did you break your penis again? Because if so, I don't think you need a neuro consult." She said.

"Why do you even... it doesn't matter." He looked at her and he asked himself one last time if she could really do that to him. Didn't she told him she loved? She couldn't have done that to someone she loved. "We need to talk."

"I'm sorry Mark but I got paged for a consult. April probably made a mistake and gave me the wrong bed number." She was about to walk out. He had to say something. Didn't he want to know the truth?

"Lex, are Brian and Leslie mine?" He blurted it out. He couldn't wait anymore. He had to know.

"What...?" She was shocked. How could he know? "Why would you think that? I wouldn't do that, keep my children apart from their father. What kind of person do you think I am?"

"You're someone I hurt. What I made you go through was unbearable, but if you kept them from me. If you hide them so that you wouldn't have to face me. It would be worst." He took a deep breath. He knew that if he went down that ride there was no coming back. "You're the one who supported me when Sloane came back, you knew better than anyone how I felt when I learned that her mother had kept her from me. To know that you would do that to me, that you would even think of keeping me from the truth. It would be unbearable and I don't know if I could trust you ever again."

What Mark had just told her made her angry. Yes, she did knew how it affected him. She knew it better than anyone because he chose the daughter that he barely knew over her. He hurt her, without thinking of how she would be affected. But now he was using all the pain he had inflicted her against her.

All her children's life she had tried her best to keep them from the pain she suffered. Even if that meant that they never would meet their father. And now, he was telling her that what she did was wrong. Her job as a mother was to keep her children safe and that's what she had done. He couldn't blame her for that.

She couldn't control herself anymore. She had done that for the past 6 years. Maybe he was right to blame her for keeping Leslie and Brian safe, but she also had the right to blame him for her crushed heart and all the pain she had felt years ago. She exploded.

"I'm sorry, I'm the one to not be trusted?! Do I have to make you remember everything I've been through? You left me there, then when I asked to go back into your life you couldn't bear that I had slept once with someone else while you were in LA screwing Addison over and over again? Is there something I'm not understanding here? You left me heartbroken like garbage. You knocked up your best friend and expected me to take it like everything was fine when you knew I wanted to build a family with you. I... I..."

He cut her off.

"You wanted to build a family with me? You could've called me when you learned you were pregnant, but no, it was too hard." He yelled back.

"I tried. You have no idea how I tried, but every time I called you were occupied with Callie. I was able to hear you giggle over the baby. Every time I thought about telling you, I could feel your happiness. I didn't want my children to feel the pain I felt. I didn't want them to be left behind. I didn't want them to not be your priorities." She was almost crying now. "You would've left them like you left me and that was not an option. They deserved better and you know that."

He was almost speechless. But he was still angry enough to continue to fight.

"I have rights. As their father I have rights." He yelled at her. "You kept them from me for you, because you couldn't bear that I was happy and that you weren't. I don't even know why I ever loved you. You're just selfish!"

The curtains opened and April let herself in.

"Could you keep it down a little. It's an emergencyroom, not a therapist office." She said calmly.

Mark was the first to walk out. April gave an apologizing look to Lexie and went back to the nurse station.

Lexie suddenly felt nauseous. She couldn't do this anymore. She wasn't able to play the perfect life anymore. She was tired of fighting. She was tired of everything.

She couldn't felt her feet anymore. Her lower body was nothing more than a fluffy pillow. She felt her body falling and closed her eyes right before her head hit the ground.

Around her people screamed for help. The last thing she heard was Mark yelling her name.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < an hour later >~_

Lexie woke up with a headache. She couldn't remember what had brought her to that hospital bed. She opened her eyes and her sister was sitting next to her, looking at her chart.

"Mark came by." Her sister told her. "He said he wanted me to page him as soon as you'd wake up."

She didn't want to see Mark, she was sick just thinking of it. How could he think that he still had a right to see her after everything he had done?

"Mer, the kids?" She asked the oldest.

"They're still at school. Mark offered to go take them but I told him they would be better at school. They don't have to worry about you."

"What happened?" Lexie said sitting on her bed.

"They think you're pressure dropped under stress, but your tests didn't come back so they're not sure." She gave to her sister a worried look. "You shouldn't get up. Your results aren't back yet. You need rest."

"I'm fine." She said ignoring what the other had just said. "It's just a pressure thing, nothing else."

Meredith knew it wouldn't do any good to argue so instead of telling her everything else that it could be, she gave her a salad from the cafeteria.

"Could you at least eat, please?"

Lexie knew that if she didn't eat the salad, Meredith would be on her back all day long, at least until her results came back. She opened the box and felt the smell come through her nose. Another vague of nauseousness came to her. She didn't let it affect her appearance, knowing that if she'd look sick her sister would restraint her to the bed.

She ate the whole plate and got up. She changed in her scrubs and went back to work.

She walked to the attending's lounge to wait for her blood test result. She hoped that since she wasn't walking around the hospital, she wouldn't have to talk to Mark again. But after one hour of staring at the ceiling, he walked into the room. She could feel the space-filling up with tension.

"Hey." He said.

"What do you want?" She responded rudely. She didn't want to play games or fair. If this was war, she would win it.

"Look, I think I might have been a little bit too rude with you when we talked. And I'm sorry."

If looks could kill, Mark Sloan would've been laying on the ground dead. She didn't want his apologies. She wanted him to leave her alone. How could he not understand that he had hurt her enough?

"I don't want your pathetic sorry. I want you to leave me alone." She was a strong woman who could finally make everything stop. She would make it stop. She was strong and she couldn't care less about him, but her body had decided that her feeling would take over. She started sobbing. "Don't you think you hurt me enough? After all those years you still act like the victim. I left you so that you wouldn't leave me behind. Again. You are so using that everyone sees you like you're a God that you forgot everything about being human. You hurt me and you can't take that back. You took away all the hopes I had about love. You made me see it as something that would never make me happy. You know I'd never be over you and you used it. Still today you used it. I don't want you in my children's life or in mine. If you think DNA means that you're a father, you're wrong. A father needs to be there and see them as his priority, not as something he can just throw away when he wants. All you did was have an erection, ejaculate in my vagina and rollover. All that makes you is a sperm donor."

With that, she left him standing there. She opened the door and before she could even step outside, Mark took her arm and spin her around. He looked into her eyes before leaning in and kissing her. He softly locked his lips with hers. She didn't react.

Lexie was too shocked to do so. She didn't kiss him back or pushed him away. She didn't know what to do. He unlocked their lips but before he could even look at her, she was out of there.

Lexie smiled at herself. Not because she had feelings for the man, but because it felt good to be wanted. Even if it was by him.


	6. Oh, Crap!

After her brief fight/kiss with Mark, Lexie got paged to the pit for a consult. The patient had jumped from a 3-floor building after a fight with his children and hit his head first. The patient had some important damage to his skull. They did CT right before the patient had a stroke. She had to rush him into surgery but the patient's brain had too much swelling and she had to declare him brain dead after 3 hours of surgery.

She was tired and felt sick. She couldn't wait till her shift was over so she could head home and sleep. Even though it was a promising reward, she had to wait and it made it even more unpleasant. Why did she chose to move back where he lived, why? Now, she had to face him for the rest of the day.

Her pager went off and interrupted her thoughts.

She went down to the nurse station to pick up her file and see the results of her test. Everything was clear on the first page so she didn't bother to read the second. And she went and put it in her things in the attending lounge. And forgot about it afterward.

The rest of the day was calm, she wasn't page again to the E.R. and had time to clip the aneurysm she had planned in her schedule.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ <later that evening>~_

Lexie knocked on Meredith's as she always did when her kids were asleep. She took off her coat and lay it on the couch next to Meredith. Two glasses of wine were sitting on the coffee table.

"Mer?" She asked since the room was empty. "Where are you?"

"Kitchen" her older sister responded.

She joined her sister in the room and helped her finish washing the dishes. When they were done they headed to the living room.

"So... did you take a look at your results?" Meredith asked her sibling.

"Yes, I did and everything was normal so you don't have to worry about me."

"I know and I trust you but..." Meredith knew her sister too well to let it go like that, she had to look for herself.

"But you went to see them anyway." She interrupted her sister. She turned around and took the papers from her pocket and handed them to the other Grey in the room. "I knew you would say that."

As she observed her oldest, she took a sip of her wine. When she came across the second page, Meredith's look changed. It went from happiness to see that her sister was healthy to pure shock.

"What?" Lexie asked before taking another sip of her drink.

"Lex, I don't think you should be drinking wine."

"Mer, I'm alright. I looked at the results myself, I'm not sick so yes I can drink."

"Did you look at your HCG levels? Because they're high."

"Yeah right. Stop joking, there's no chance in hell I could be pregnant."

Meredith handed back two results to her sister and pointed the information.

"Lexie, you had drunk sex with Mark three weeks ago. Can you remember anything about that night? Like him having a condom on his penis, by example?"

Lexie looks like she and seen a gosht, but the truth was that she was now confronted at the situation she had refused to face for years. This time she had no choice but to tell Mark, and it couldn't have happened at a worst time.

"It can't be right, it just can't," Lexie said. "It's impossible..."

"Look, if you want to we'll just test again, okay?"

"Mer," she said as calm as she could given the situation. "I'm a doctor. I know what this means, I just wasn't expecting it. But that baby is in me and I won't do anything about it. I still have time before I start to show and I don't have to tell Mark until then."

Even though she seemed to have figured it out, Meredith was still able to see that she was confused about the whole situation.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~<the next morning>~

Lexie woke up and her first thoughts went to that child inside her. He was coming into a world where nothing made sense. She owed to that child to make sense of everything. She had done the same for the twins five years prior and she was about to have to do it all over again. But this time she would have to make a place for Mark. Even though for the twins she had included Mark in a way, by telling them stories about and that even though he wasn't there he lived in them very much, now she had to let him be there for everything.

The reason she was waiting to tell him wasn't because she was trying to keep that baby from him, it was because she wanted to know if he or she and the twins would be as important to him as Sofia was. That even if he hated her, he would love them.

She went to wake her kids up, school would start in less than two hours. As she accomplished their morning routine, she realized how hard it was for her to do alone. She realized how much she needed help from someone. Maybe that after all, Mark would fit in perfectly in their little family.

She knew she had to somehow include Mark in Brandon's and Leslie's life but first, she needed to know if they wanted him there. If they still needed a father.

They got to the car and Lexie took the opportunity to ask them as they were stuck in there for a little while.

"So, I was wondering how you'd feel to have a dad since you know, we haven't talked about it in a little while? So, would you like that?" She asked the two kids sitting in the back.

Brandon was the first to respond, he always had this stubborn idealistic idea of their family.

"I don't think I would like that." He said. "I think we are perfectly fine being all three of us. I don't want that to change."

She waited for his sister to answer but she didn't so Lexie knew she had to encourage her to speak.

"Less, what do you think? Would you like to meet your father?"

"Even if I would want that, I don't think we could. He abandoned us, didn't he?" She asked.

Lexie had a pinch to the heart. She had told them that story to protect them, but know it felt more like an excuse for her so she wouldn't have to conform Mark.

"Mom?" She asked again.

As if God had ear her silent prayers, they arrived at school.

"Okay kiddos, prepare your stuff, we're there."

Now, she knew she had to tell the truth, not for herself or for Mark. Her kids deserved to know that they had a father who loved them and who didn't have a choice in the matter of not being there for them.

She reached to touch her stomach.

"I know baby, he will know. You will have a daddy."

She started the car again and this time, her distinction was the hospital. She had to tell Mark.


	7. Everything Blows Up

As Lexie was driving to the hospital, she started to picture the scene. What she would tell him. What his reaction would be. She still didn't know if this was a good idea, but it was already a better one than keeping his children away from him.

She parked her car in her lot. As she walked closer to the hospital, a bubble was starting to build up in her chest and she started doubting that this was a good idea. What if he didn't want of them? What if he wanted to take the twins away from her? Brian did say that he didn't want a father, how would he feel if Mark was introduced to him as his father? Would he throw a tantrum? What about Leslie? She never actually said she wanted him in her life? She knew she didn't have much choice since Mark knew he was the twins' father he could easily get a judge to sign off full custody to him since she lied for half a decade.

She arrived at her locker and Mark was there. It seemed like he was waiting for someone and she knew he was probably waiting for her.

"Look," she said "I have no idea what to tell you, I never thought I'd be telling you about them. But if you want to be in their lives, if you want to be their father, you'll have to give them time. They're 4, they don't understand our grow-ups business. Just wait, okay?"

"You don't think I've been waiting long enough? For four years you hid them from me. You purposely hid them! Not so they'd be protected but because you wanted to ignore the fact that we happened. You say I've hurt you that I've broken your heart, well guess what, you're not the only one to whom it happened."

Lexie was pissed more than ever, in part because of the pregnancy hormones, but mostly because of Mark.

"Oh, yeah because I'm the one who fucked with my best friend and got myself pregnant! I'm the one just keep pushing you out of my life until you can't take it anymore and leave?! I'm the one who turns into a whore when I break things off with you and can't handle that you slept with someone once?! Go to hell Mark Sloan!" She said slamming her locker's door.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < a week later >~_

Maggie had convinced Lexie to throw a dinner party to celebrate the twins' birthday and she had invited almost all the surgical hospital staff. Even Mark had shown up.

The party was thrown at Meredith's house since Lexie's was still full of boxes. The kids had invited a few friends and they all dressed up as different animals, Leslie and Brian each dressed as a lion since they were both the king and queen of the party.

Mark and Lexie hadn't talked since the locker incident and Lexie had asked Amelia to take all the neuro cases that were shared with Mark. She hadn't told her why but she knew Amelia knew something was up.

She was watching the kids running around the house, screaming of joy. Earlier that day, Leslie had asked her mother if their father was coming. Lexie not sure if Mark would come and not wanting to disappoint her daughter told her that he wouldn't.

Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't seen Mark walking towards her. She was unconsciously rubbing her belly. She wasn't showing yet but she felt some sort of comfort about rubbing it, as if she could communicate with the fetus.

"Can we talk?" The man asked.

"Mark!" She was surprised by his presence next to her automatically stop touching her stomach. "I didn't think you'd come."

"Well it's my kids' birthdays after all, why wouldn't I come?"

Amelia went inside the kitchen.

"Lexie they're ready for the cake, hey Mark!" She said. "I'm gonna leave you guys to it. Just don't forget the cake."

"I haven't told them yet, they don't know about you." She paused. "I didn't know how to tell them."

"You didn't know how or you didn't want to? Why am I even surprised by this? I should've expected it."

"Really Mark?! You think I would prevent them from knowing you for me? You know what, just go back with the invitees and I'll tell you when they're ready to meet you. Until then you're just Derek's best friend, okay?"

It hurt her to do that but she couldn't handle it anymore. He was disrespecting her and even if he was hurt that wasn't a way to treat her. Maybe her hormones had a role in her attitude but she didn't care, she'd let them lead the way.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < later that afternoon >~_

Most of the kids had gone home by now. After the cake, they opened the presents. They had opened most of them and played with them until they got bored and started using anything they could find as a toy.

She was now doing the dishes with her sister and the rest of the sisterhood. The rest of the adults form the party were picking up all the trash and paper from the gifts and the cake.

Meredith had taken a bottle of wine form Derek's collection and took wine glasses out. She served herself and the two others a glass and left Lexie empty-handed since she had a bun in the oven.

"So... why were you talking with Mark?" Amelia asked.

"It was nothing."

"Okay, let me get this right, the guy you've been avoiding all week shows up at you kids' birthday party and starts talking to you and it was nothing?" Amelia responded playfully.

"Yeah, that doesn't seem right," Maggie added. "What really happened? Did you two have sex? Did he want to have sex?"

Yep, that's right, the sisterhood was almost as annoying as Mark with their unceasing questions.

"Oh my God, you're worst than Mark is! You're even worst than Kepner was when she first came here!"

The sisters splashed her with the water in the sink.

"Are you done being children?" Meredith asked her sisters. She had looked at the scene from a distance not interfering their little chit chat.

"Yes, we are," Amelia answered. "I better go, Owen, must be waiting for me in the car." She started walking away then stopped. "Oh, and Lexie, if you don't start telling me what happened, I'll start asking Mark."

Lexie blushes. She knew Mark would tell Amelia about the twins and probably about the hookup too.

"Come on, get out! Your husband is waiting for you." Lexie said throwing the dishes' cloth at her playfully.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < an hour later >~_

Lexie was playing with her kids and Sofia in the living room, waiting for Callie, Arizona or Mark to come pick up the little girl. Her father had disappeared after their talk and hadn't given any sign of life since then.

"Mommy," Leslie started "did you know that Sofia has two moms and one dad? How come she has two moms and a dad and we don't even have a daddy?"

Great, Lexie thought. She was asking about her father for the billionth time that day. Lexie didn't know what excuse to make up so that she'd satisfy her daughter's need for answers.

"Look, honey, you're daddy really loves you, okay? It's just that he can't be here with us." She said taking her daughter's hands to her mouth and kissing them. "He really really loves you and your brother."

Mark walked inside the house and Lexie stood up.

"Mark." She said to her ex-lover. "Sofia, your father's here!" She said a little louder so the child would hear her.

"Before I leave, can we talk? Alone."

He was calm and it seemed like they wouldn't burst into a fight at any moment.

"Yeah." She responded to his request. She got on her daughter's level and told the little girl to go play in her cousin's room. Leslie ran towards the stairs. "So, what did you want to talk about. If it's about the whole you being the twins' father thing and me telling them, I'll promise I'll do it soon."

"Okay. But I wasn't there for that."

Lexie's mind started spinning. If he wasn't there to talk about that then what would he want to talk about? Was it about the kiss?

"I want to take a paternity test."

"What the...?" Lexie shouted.

"My lawyer said it would be safer for me to take it so that if it turns out I'm not their father I won't involve myself emotionally and I'll know for sure you won't try to fraud me by taking my money." He explained.

She was angry, so angry. He knew she had everything to lose by telling him about his paternity and he knew her. He knew she couldn't lie. So why would he act like such a douche?

She slapped him. It came faster than she had thought.

"You want your paternity test, fine. But don't you dare insinuate that I could've lied about it for the past 5 years. That I would've cheated on you."

"Come on Lex, you should've been expecting it."

"Screw you, Mark Everett Sloan!"

She walked away from him towards the kitchen. She then jumped on the counter and took out a wine glass and poor the liquid in it. She took a big sip of the poison.

"Lexie,  you can't! The baby!" Her sister reminded her.

Lexie spit out the content of her mouth in the sink.

"You're pregnant?!" They heard a male voice say.


	8. All Hell Breaks Louse

"You're pregnant?!" Mark said.

Well, on the upside she didn't have to tell him anymore.

"Mark I can explain, I..." she started.

"You what, hum?" He interrupted her. "You were going to hide this pregnancy from me again? Hiding my kids from me once wasn't enough for you, you had to do it again! I thought we were getting on the same page you and I."

"You mean the one where you want a paternity test?! We're not on the same page Mark, we've not been on the same page since you told me Callie was pregnant!" She shouted.

"You're the one who chose to run away! You're the one who choose to ruin her life! I had no vote in that decision!"  He shouted back.

"Mark!" Meredith said. She couldn't let him insult her sister and her godson and goddaughter.

"Oh don't! You're as bad as she is! You knew that Brian and Leslie were mine and you still said nothing."

"Just stop! Not only did you just implied that my kids,  _your_  kids were a mistake that ruined my life, now you want to blame my sister for not telling you when you clearly never cared about it before, huh. Mark, you keep acting like all of this is only my fault but you never tried to contact me after I left. I never once got a call from you and every time I called, you were laughing and you didn't care if I was on the line. You're to blame too." Lexie had enough of this for one night. She walked out of the kitchen and went to get her kids. Both of them were sleepy and couldn't wait to get home.

"Come on guys, we just have a little bit to walk and then you'll be able to sleep in your bed. Now lets got."

"I'm too tired to walk, mama. Could you carry me?" Leslie implored her mother.

"Me too mama, my legs are not working!" Brian told his mother.

If they had been babies, Lexie would've been able to take them both in her arms but they were 5 now and Lexie was pregnant.

"I can't carry both of you, and I don't want anyone to be jealous so you'll have to walk. Mama is tired too."

Her kid started wining but she kept on going and they followed her. Lexie silently hoped that Mark wouldn't follow them or offer his help. She didn't need that right now, not after the fight they just had.

She finally arrived on the steps of her house. She opened the door and hurried in to put the kids to bed. Both of them welcomed their blankets with opened arms as it was way past their bedtime. For once Lexie hasn't had to force them to sleep and she was grateful for it.

Almost right after she closed the doors of her children's room, she heard a knock at the door. She knew it was Mark and she didn't want to fight with him because she too was tired of her day and she also had to wake up early the next morning to go to work.

She went down the stairs and she could see Mark's figure behind the door. She stopped moving, hoping he would go. But Mark knocked on the door again. Lexie opened the door and stayed in the frame, letting him know clearly that she wasn't inviting him inside.

"What?" She asked.

"Why? Why do you do this?"

"Go put my kids to bed? So I can sleep too and be able to go work in the morning."

"You know that's not what I was talking about." He said. "I meant why do you keep hiding my children from me and why would you hide your pregnancy?"

"To keep you from hurting them and because I don't want you," She paused because she knew that what she would say next would hurt him. "I don't want you in my life, I don't want you to destroy me like you did and I especially don't want to fall in love with you again because that, that would kill me. And because I didn't want this to happen again, I never asked to have your baby, again."

Mark looked shocked. How could she be destroyed by him? And why wouldn't she want to have kids with him? Was he that bad of a man?

"Look, I'm tired and I have to work at 6 tomorrow so could you please go."

"Yeah sure." He walk down the stair and looked back. "Lexie."

"Yeah." She said annoyed.

"I never meant to hurt you."

He walked away and she closed the door and the lights to go off to bed.

"I never meant to hurt you either." She whispered to herself.


	9. Daddy's Home

Lexie went to work the next day, fearing that everyone might know about her pregnancy. She knew it wouldn't be long before they all found out, but she was hoping for more time. And more time she had. Everyone was gossiping about this new intern that kept  _stalking_  Jackson, and no one had any interest in anything else. The rumors went from an affair to a murder pact, yes that was normal in this workplace.

She was grateful that the intern was making advances on Jackson but she knew that her friend hated it. She felt bad to be happy about such rumors but she needed them so she would have more time to think about the baby without anyone judging or giving her advice. After all, she had raised two perfect little angels.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~~

Lexie knew she had to make things right with Mark and she had decided to tell the kids about him. So she tried to find him in SGM* which wasn't hard as every nurse knew his schedule. Soon, she had found him and was now waiting for him to be alone so they could talk without anyone eavesdropping on their conversation.

Mark got out of his patient's room. He had in his hands the patient's chart and gave it to the nurse who put it away. Of course, that nurse looked at him like he was the most precious piece of art she'd ever seen and he didn't seem to mind at all.

"Mark." She called out to him. "Can we talk, please."

"I'm not in the mood Lexie."

"Then just listen to me."

"Just leave me alone."

She knew she wouldn't get to him if she didn't say exactly what she wanted to talk to him about.

"It's about Leslie and Brian."

Mark stopped walking and turned around.

"What about them? You want to brag about the fact that my children don't know who I am? I'm tired of this."

"I don't want to  _brag_  about it. I wanted to ask you when would be the best time for you to meet them. Not as Mark, but as their father."

Mark looked at her in shock, he hadn't expected her to agree with him so soon after their argument.

"I'm, I'm off work tonight. You can come to my place, you still remember where it is?"

"I remember." She said, trying not to think of what they did the last time she was at his place. "I'll see you tonight."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~< after her shift >~

"Hey, kiddos." She said as her kids rushed into her arms. "How was your day at school?"

"Awesome!" Brian screamed. "Sofia's mama brought brownies and I ate three of them!"

"So now that you had your sugar fix does that mean you won't need dessert?" She joked.

"No, there still a place in my heart for more sugar. There will always be!" He continued as he ran around his mother.

"And you Leslie?"

"I had one." She said, showing her the number with her finger. "And I played barbies with Sofia after her mama left."

"That's awesome!" Lexie cheered. "Now I have a surprise for you." 

Her sentence caught the little boy's attention.

"What is it?!"

"You remember how I told you you might meet your father?" She asked the kids. "Well, I found a way for you to meet him. Is it okay if we go eat with him tonight?"

"Yeah!" Brian answered with enthusiasm.

"Les?"

"Will he take us away from you?" The young girl asked.

"No, of course not. He won't take you away, never." She promised her daughter.

"Then I'll meet him. But I don't promise I'll like him, and if I do, I won't love him as much as I love you."

"That's okay sweetheart," Lexie said, hugging her daughter tighter.

Both her children were nervous to meet their father but were excited at the same time.  
She help her two kids pick up their outfits and they got out of the house and into the car. Lexie drove to Mark's house and helped the kids get out.

"Okay, don't forget you have to be respectful." She reminded them one last time as she rang the doorbell.

She could hear footsteps coming closer and closer and she tightens her grip on her children's hands. The door finally open and Mark welcomed them into his house.

At first, the twins didn't say anything, they were in shock. And so Lexie helped them take their coats off and Mark showed them the way to the living room. On the gray couch were two packages. One was pink with a big yellow bow and the other was blue with a red bow.

The twins looked at the gifts and exchanged looks. They waited for the adults to get in before sitting next to them.

"I have something for you," Mark said as he took the presents into his hands and gave one to each kid.

The twins opened both at the same time and took them out. Brian had been given a big red firefighter truck and Leslie had received a Barbie MD.

"Look, my doll has a scrub like mama!" Leslie said as she pointed the clothes.

Her brother took little interest into his sister's doll and immediately asked his mom to help him get the truck out off the packaging. The little girl didn't ask for help to get her toy out. She opened the box carefully.

Lexie went into the kitchen to help Mark with the dinner.

"You need help?"

"Yeah, you can cut the vegetables."

They stayed silent for a couple of minutes, preparing the salad and observing the twins.

Lexie could see the wheel in Mark's head spin. She wanted to know what it was about but she knew she had lost the privilege to know when she had left.

"They like you." She told him.

"Yeah, probably because of the toys." He said smiling.

"Yeah, probably only because of that," Lexie said, hitting his arm with her playfully.

"Be careful, what goes around comes around."

"Like you'd ever dare!"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~< 11 p.m.>~

Mark and Lexie were watching the twins sleep on the couch from the island in the kitchen.

"Thank you, for tonight." He said.

"It was time."

"Indeed it was."

Mark walked over to the couch where his daughter and son slept and took the blanket from the rocking chair and wrapped them in it. Then he went back to the kitchen and served himself a glass of wine.

"We have to discuss custody," Mark told her. Even though Lexie knew it was coming, she had hoped it would take a while before Mark would bring up the subject. "I don't want to be kept from them any longer."

"You won't. You'll see them when you want to." She told him. "Just don't take them from me. They're all I have."

"I won't, I promise."


	10. Fifthy Shades of Grey and Trouble Should Find your Way

Lexie hurried to scrub out of surgery. She had this craving she couldn't wait to get. This time, it wasn't food. It was sex. She had entered her second trimester a week ago and her morning sickness had stopped gradually, leaving all the place for this new craving.

The one thing she hated about this new part of her pregnancy was that she needed Mark for it. She needed him because it was easier and less complicated than beginning to sleep with someone else while she was pregnant. She had less things to explain.

Lexie walked as fast as she could without running to get to Mark. She knew he would be making his rounds right now. She was right, the plastic surgeon was walking out of one of his patient's room. The woman lying in the bed kept making googly eyes at him, expecting him to fall for it.

"Mark," Lexie said.

The man searched for the source of the voice. The first thing that came through his mind was the baby. Did something happen? He rushed to her side to make sure she and his unborn child were both fine.

"Hey, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine." She told him. "I just really need to talk to you. Maybe somewhere private."

Mark followed her to an empty on-call room. She opened up the door and let him enter first and then she came in and immediately locked the door.

"What's going on?" The man asked.

"Just shut up." She said as she pushed him against the wall.

He didn't move. He looked straight into her eyes, trying to understand what was happening.

"Lexie... Lex." He said in a whisper. "What are you doing?"

"I need you."

"What?!"

"Okay, not you particularly but I've been wanting this so hard. This baby is making me go insane and you're the one to blame for that so you have to pay." She rambled.

She took off her scrub top in a hurry, and Mark followed. Their lips searched each other, his going from her breast to her jaw and her hands playing in his hair as she got aroused. As their lips locked, he lifted her up and lay her down on the metallic bed. He carefully pulled her pants off. He looked at her body. God had he missed the feeling of his skin touching hers.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < 45 minutes later >~_

They were both laying down on the mattress, in each other's arms. Mark was playing with her hair and she was staring at the door.

"I like this. I like just being with you here." He said.

Lexie moved around to face him. And looked at him for a moment. He was still at the top of his game. Sexy as ever. This was good.

"Hum."

She got back on her feet and started putting back her close on.

"Just to be clear, this is not a relationship." Lexie started as she passed her head through the whole of her top. "This is purely sexual and only so I don't go insane." She finished as she tied back her blond curls.

"Okay." He responded. "So this will happen more often?"

"Heck yeah." She said as she opened the door and went back to reality.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ < one month later >~_

For the past month, Lexie had called Mark every time her craving had become unbearable to ignore which was more often then she would've like. Sex had become her heroin, every time she had a taste of it, she needed more.

This new addiction of hers had now an impact on her work. Mark was now so used to her paging him for sex that once, he showed up almost topless in a patient's room.

Another thing people were gossiping about now, that and Lexie's pregnancy. Everyone was now aware of her little human because of one of Mark's intervention while in surgery. He had dropped the b bomb when they had to do an X-ray on a patient and he demanded that Lexie be thrown out of the OR for that part of the surgery.

But she didn't mind their gossip. She had her kids to worry about and since that now they knew about Mark and spent time with him, she worried more and more. She was mostly worried when they weren't with her as they had been most of their lives.

Lexie was trying to get all of her hair into braids as she was about to go into surgery and she didn't want them falling on the patient. And it was giving her a hard time. Even since she had ha long hair, she had hated this part of it. She just couldn't wait until she was done with all of that.

"I still have the twins tonight?" Mark asked as he gave his patient's chart to a nurse, interrupting Lexie's thoughts.

"Yeah. Will you bring them back or will they stay with you the whole night?"

"I think I can manage to have them for the night. Plus Sofia is staying over."

"Okay. That's perfect." Lexie lied. She was anxious when the kids weren't home for bedtime. She felt alone and she hates the feeling of the empty house without them and the sounds they made sleeping. "I've got things to do anyway."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ <lunch break>~_

Lexie and Mark were laying on top of the mattress, Mark rubbing Lexie's baby bump as she kissed his neck.

Over the past month, they had to adjust their activity as the bump grew.

Mark moved his hand up to her face and cupped her chin into his palms as he kissed her. Their lips were fighting to find each other's. Lexie's hair had gotten out of her ponytail and now her blond locks were all over her face, keeping Mark from properly kissing the mother of his children.

He pulled away for a minute and contemplated her face for a moment, a smile of pure joy appeared on his face as he did so. He lifted one hand and pulled her hair back.

Just as things seemed to get more interesting Mark's pager went off.

He ignored it for a couple of seconds before reading the message.

"Shit!" He said as it revealed one of his patients had crashed. "I gotta go."

"Okay," Lexie said.

Mark got off of on top of her and helped her get back up, crashing his lips against hers one last time. His hand on the back of her neck, his fingers lost in her tangled hair.

Before getting out he said one last thing, thinking something had changed about her appearance.

"Your hair is blonder, right?" He asked before continuing without the answer to his first question. "I like it."

He closed the door on that last word and Lexie was left there alone in the cold almost dark on-call room. Her bare chest against the sheets. Lexie couldn't help but bring up her hand and touch the lips he had kissed less than a minute ago. She felt her heart beat faster and she had to remind herself of the hurt she had had to stop her emotions.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ <that evening>~_

Lexie opened the door to a small salon and a bell rang as she entered the room.

"Hi, how may I help you?" A perky young blond asked her.

"Alexandra Grey, I booked an appointment for today."

The woman tapped a few buttons on the computer's board and lifted her head up, smiling.

"Yes, you'll be with Sasha. She's chair 3. You can go sit down right now, she'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Thank you," Lexie said.

She got to the chair and settled in. Lexie stared at herself in the mirror. She could see her dark roots and the mismatch of her blond hair that was tied in a loose messy bun. It had been a long time since she had done anything different to her hair and now was the time.

A redhead came up behind her all smile. "Hi, I'm Sasha. What can I do for you today?"

Lexie explained to the woman what she wanted and next they went to wash her hair. As her hair got wet, Lexie relaxed. She had needed this since she had came back. She had needed to find herself and a new look was exactly how she would start.

They went back to the chair and she put a robe on. The hairdresser started working and Lexie smiled as she saw her blond locks fell on the ground. They were long chunks of hair all around the floor and even on her robe. She hold one of them in her hand. She could now finally feel the fresh air on her neck. Somehow, getting rid of her long hair rimed with freedom for her.

Up next was the hair dye. Her roots were difficult to manage with her schedule and with being pregnant, certain chemicals couldn't be put into her hair.

One hour later, she locked herself in the mirror and for the first time in a long time, she could see herself.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ <the next morning>~_

The doorbell rang and Lexie rushed downstairs to open the door. She was off work that day, and she wanted to spend every time she had with her kids.

"Mama!" Her little ones said as they ran into her arms.

"I missed you so much." She told them as she hugged them. "Why won't you go play in the living room for a minute, hum, I'm gonna talk to your dad."

"Okay," Brian said, running down the hallway mimicking a car.

"Fine," Leslie said, less enthusiastic.

Mark was staring at Lexie. She had changed so much overnight. He hadn't seen her like that in real life before but he had once seen her in a picture with a short haircut resembling this one. He know knew that the picture was when the twins were around 1.  
He moved his hand a little bit, in a motion to go and touch her, but he stopped remembering that they weren't an item and that he couldn't do that.

"You changed your hair," Mark remarked. "I like it. It looks good."

"Yeah, well I needed a change. Plus with the baby and all, let's just say that bleaching my hair wasn't the best thing to keep doing."

They stared at each other for a moment before Mark continued.

"I talked to Callie and Arizona and they'd like to host a family dinner tonight."

"You can take the kids, I bet they'd like to spend more time with their sister."

"Actually, they asked me to invite you too."

"Oh, well that's nice of them. But I don't want to cause any problem."

"You won't." He insisted. "Please come."

"Okay, I'll see you tonight." She said.

He went back to his car and she closed the door, she moved away from the door and looked out the window. She looked at him drive off and she thought about what she had wanted to do, what she had wanted to say. But she had no right to do any of those things or tell him any of her thoughts and so she went to see her kids.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ <4:56 pm>~_

"Hurry up!" She said to her kids who were still getting ready. "We don't want to be late."

She looked at the oven clock and back to the stairs. How much time could it take them to put shoes on? She decided that she would go help them and walked upstairs. There, she found her kids on their respective beds, doing nothing.

"Seriously? Les, Brian?" She said, unhappy with their temperament. "What are you doing?"

"We don't want to go," Leslie said, crossing her arms. "We already have a mom. We don't need two more."

"Plus Sofia is mean." The little boy said to help his sister's argument.

"You don't even know them that well and Callie and Arizona won't try to be your moms. They just want us to have a nice family dinner."

"But we're not family." The little girl pouted.

"Yes, we are. Mark is Sofia's father and yours. This makes us family."

"I don't want to have a new family. I'm happy with aunt Meredith and Grandpa." Brian said, throwing the pillow on his head.

"This is not a choice. We are going to that dinner. You need to get to know them before judging them." She said. "Come on, you're getting up and you are getting into the car."

Both kids looked at their mom. They were about to reply but they knew better.

"Yes, mama." They said as they walked down the stairs.

It wasn't like Lexie absolutely wanted to go there either. She knew she would be judged and that they would probably share their opinions about her pregnancy which she hadn't announced to the twins yet.

"I'm in for a treat." She said under her breath so her kids wouldn't hear.

She drove 15 minutes before arriving at the couple's house. They had moved out of the condo and we're now further away from the hospital. She got out of the car as Mark walked out of the back yard.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." She responded. "Will you help me with the kids? It's gonna take less time if we do this at the same time."

"Sure." He said.

Then they entered threw the backyard where Callie and Arizona already were. They got up to greet their guests. Arizona got down to the twins' level.

"If you want to got play with Sofia, she's in her treehouse." She said, pointing to the big tree where a little house was sitting in between two huge branches.

The kids looked at their mother who smiled at them and they ran toward the little house. Lexie looked at her two kids, regretting that they had to leave so soon. She felt the awkwardness in the atmosphere and couldn't help but think that with the kids it wouldn't be there.

"I like your hair," Arizona said. "It looks great."

"Thanks."

"Do you want anything? Water, juice, soda?"

"I would like a water, please." She answered Callie's question.

Callie smiled at her and went inside, dragging her wife along with her.

"I shouldn't have come," Lexie told Mark.

"No, it's fine. Callie is just being, you know, Callie."

"I know."

Lexie and Mark just stood there awkwardly.

Soon enough the two wives came back with a glass of water and handed it to Lexie. Well, Arizona had brought it to Lexie and Callie had fetch herself a glass of red wine.

"So how has your pregnancy been so far?" Arizona asked.

"It's been good," Lexie said thinking about all her on-call room hookup. "It was hard for the first trimester but since then I've been fine."

"That's great!" Arizona said.

Lexie appreciated the other surgeon's effort at making conversation but she knew that wasn't the only question in their mind. She just didn't want to answer any of them.

"So, hum, did you date anyone when you were in Boston?" Callie asked.

"Callie, come on," Mark said reprimanding his friend. "She doesn't need to answer that."

"No, it's fine Mark. I did date a guy, but he wasn't a great match. He kind of became obsessed with being the twins' father and I broke things off when he asked if he could have the twins for the weekend."

"And when was that exactly?" Callie asked.

"I started dating the guy when the twins were 3 and we broke things off a little before they turned 5. He's part of the reason why I decided to come back. He wanted to be so many things for me and the twins, but I didn't love him like he loved me and it would've been unfair to the kids to act like he was their father when, well, he wasn't."

"And yet you still chose to hide the twins from Mark when you came back."

"Callie, don't," Mark said defending Lexie.

"But it's true. If you hadn't found out, she never would've told you. And she probably would've hid the pregnancy from you too." She told her friend. "I don't understand why you put up with her shit. She took so much from you already and you're ready to give her more and more. Hell, if she'd make you chose between her kids and Sofia you'd probably choose her."

"That's not..." Lexie tried to oppose to what Callie had just said

"Oh, don't talk to me." She said interrupting Lexie. "We're not friends and I don't like you so I won't pretend that I do. I honestly don't think you're here for the sake of your kids and that this whole  _new baby_  thing is probably a scam. If Mark is stupid enough to fall for it and not have a paternity test done then it's his fault but I won't act like everything is okay."

"She's not scamming me." Mark almost yelled.

"How do you know, you're still sleeping with her?"

Both Mark and Lexie's faces went white and Callie's turned red with rage. But before any of them could place another word, the kids ran to their parents as they got bored with their game and wished to eat.

"Mama," Leslie said as she came up to Lexie. "I'm so hungry. I could eat a whole cow."

"Me too, mama," Brian told his mom. "Look, my stomach is empty."

"Sweethearts, you have to wait until our host is ready to serve, okay?" Lexie said to her kids. She didn't want to look like an unfit parent in front of Callie, especially after all the crap she said about her not long before.

"Come on kids, come with me," Mark said as he took Brian's and Leslie's hands. "I'll show you how to properly grill a steak."

"Cool!" The little boy said in excitement.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ <10 p.m.>~_

Mark got out of his car and took out a sleepy Leslie. He was at Lexie's house and he had followed her after the dinner had ended, his daughter refusing to leave his side he had drove her here.

Lexie was already inside as Brian hadn't fell asleep and had walked all by himself to the house. She was in the door frame, waiting for him to get up the few stairs.

He was about to give his daughter back to her mother when Lexie instead of keeping him from entering let him in.

"Come. Just follow me, I'll show you where her room is." She said.

They got up the stairs and followed a sleepy Brian. Leslie's bedroom was right across the hall from her brother's and it was butterfly teamed. Mark held her up as Lexie took of her daughter's shoes and pulled back the bed's covers. Mark put her down and Lexie put the covers on her.

"Goodnight sweetie," Lexie said as she kissed her daughter's forehead. "Sleep well."

Mark looked at her from the corridor and couldn't help but smile. That was what his life would've been like if he had just waited a couple more days to tell her about Callie's pregnancy.

They repeated the process with Brian but added his little teddy bear to his routine.

Mark walked down the stairs and Lexie followed him. He was about to walk out the door when she stopped him.

"Wait." She said as she touched his back to hold him back. "Thank you. You didn't have to do all this."

"I wanted to. They're my children too."

Lexie and Mark looked elsewhere for a while, not knowing how to end that brief conversation they just had.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"Why?"

"I never meant to hurt you by not telling you about the twins."

"I forgive you. It's better late than never and I'll get my chance with this one." He said as he touched her bump

Surprised by his sudden movement, she took a step back and moved closer to him almost a moment after. Her hands joined his on her belly.

"Mark."She said.

"What?" Mark said surprised by her request.

She hadn't thought it trough. What should she say? She couldn't ask him what she really wanted because that would be unfair to him.

"Thanks for tonight." She told him.


	11. Hearts Break

Lexie woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. She almost had everything she wanted. Her kids, her job and Mark, well almost.

As usual, she woke up around 5:30 am and went to take a shower. As she undressed, she looked at her growing bump in the mirror. It wasn't as big as it was when she was at that stage of her pregnancy with the twins, but she still started to feel huge.

She could see the stretch marks on her ties and on her abdomen, that's one thing she had forgotten about being pregnant. She didn't resent that part of pregnancy, she loved it. She loves observing her body change as she grew this little human.

She went and took a hot shower before going downstairs and prepare hers and the kids' breakfasts and their lunches.

She was making scrambled eggs and ham sandwiches. As she scrambles the eggs with the spatula, some left the pan and landed directly on the stove. With her index finger, she picked up and burned the side of her hand at the same time.

"Shit!" She cursed as she put her hand under room temperature water.

"Mama?" She hears coming from upstairs.

Lexie shut the robinet and went upstairs to go see why her kids needed her.

"Hey!" She greeted them. "Good morning!"

Both of her kids were standing in the door frame of the bathroom and looked angrier than usual.

"She won't let me go to the bathroom," Brian whined.

"I was there first!" The little girl told her mother.

"But I need to pee!!!"

"Brian, go to the bathroom downstairs and Leslie hurry up. You have to get ready for school."

"It's not fair..." Brian said as he walked down the stairs and his sister closed the bathroom door. "Why do I always have to go downstairs."

As he said that, the fire alarm went off. Lexie ran into the kitchen to find her rambled eggs burned. She took it off the stove and the content of the pan into the garbage.

She picked up the hand towel and waved it under the fire detector. It finally stopped screaming and Leslie walked into the kitchen fully dressed with her red backpack on.

"Mommy, can you do my hair?" She asked.

Leslie looked at her daughter and then at the garbage. She did not have time to make eggs again. And so she popped two slices of break into the toaster and picked up the hairbrush. She braided her daughter's hair and just as she finished, the toast popped out of the toaster. She spread them with strawberry jelly and gave one to Leslie and knocked on the bathroom door to let Brian know that his time was up and that they needed to keep rolling.

As usual, Brian and Leslie were ones of the first kids who arrived at school at 7 am. Lexie helped them out and gave them their lunch boxes and planted a kiss on each one of their foreheads.

"I love you. Have a great day." She told them and they ran inside to join other kids.

Lexie drove to the hospital where she parked right next to Mark's car as he got out of it.

"Hey!" He said.

"Hey!"

He walked over to her and offered to take her bag which she accepted.

"How was your morning?" He asked

"Awful." She responded.

Mark chuckled at her response.

"Not enough sleep?"

"No. I almost burned my house down. I burned your children's scrambled eggs."

"It's the first time you've said that."

"What? That I almost burned my house down?"

"No, you called them my children."

"Well, that who they are." She told him as they entered the hospital.

"Yeah." He said as he put his arm around her shoulder and brought her closer to him. "I like the sound of that."

They got to the attending's lounge and he gave her her bag back. They each went to their locker and Lexie had a hard time unlocking hers. After her third try, she hit the metallic box with her burned hand.

"Ouch!" She said as has brought the closer to her body.

"You're okay?" Mark asked her.

"Yeah." She told him. "I just can't seem to unlock this stupid locker and I just hit it with the hand that I burned."

Mark walked to her and took her hand in his. "Do you want me to kiss it better?" He asked her playfully as he took her hand closer to his lips.

"You're the worst." She said.

She had not taken her hand back and so Mark did kiss it.

"Mark, I..." she started just as Callie walked in the room.

Callie was still fuming with rage from the other night, and when she saw them together, she let out a disapproving sigh*.

Mark let go of Lexie's hand and the brunette went back to trying to unlock her locker.

When Callie left, Mark went behind Lexie and caressed her waist. Lexie could feel her heart beating faster and she could feel butterflies all over her body.

"Do you want to pick things up where we left them two days ago? We could go back to my office, no one will interrupt us there." He suggested.

"I'd love to, but we just go to work." She said as he kissed her neck. "I really, really want to."

"Than do."

Mark reached her jawline and as he kissed it, Lexie moaned and the door opened.

"I forgot my prescription pad," Callie said, aware of what she had just interrupted. She walked out as fast as she had gotten in, not letting any of the other two place a word.

"Callie..."

"Go after her," Lexie told him, and he did.

Right before he left, she caught a glimpse of his face and she could see the frustration all over it.

 _Oh, my god,_ she thought,  _I'm messing up his relationship with Callie and by doing so, I'm also messing up his and Sofia's._

It was the first time she had ever thought about it. She wouldn't forgive herself if that happened.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ <Friday night>~_

Lexie was just getting off work and was driving to Mark's apartment. He has taken the kids with him when he had finished earlier. After the previous Sunday catastrophe of family night, Mark had wanted to try again and this time, have it at a neutral place. He had invited them over and Lexie was happy to get the opportunity to make amends with Callie.

As she entered Mark's condo, she saw her kids playing with Mark's Wii.

"Hello." She said as she took off her jacket and hung it on a hook with her bag.

"Hey," Mark said as he got out of the kitchen and locked his lips on hers, before pulling away. "I'm so sorry for how Callie spoke to you during surgery today." He told her just before going in for a second kiss.

This time it was Lexie who pulled away. "Not in front of the kids." She told him. He looked perplexed. "Not until we define what this is."

"Okay." He agreed. "As long as we define  _this_  soon."

"We will." She reassured him. It was more for herself than him if she was being honest. She still had no idea where it was going.

She went to the kitchen and helped Mark by cutting the vegetables.

Someone unlocked the door from the outside and Lexie lifted her head up to great the couple and their daughter, only to see Arizona, alone.

Mark looked as stunned as she was to the absence of his best friend and their daughter.

"I'm sorry, she's not coming." Arizona excused her wife.

"Sofia?" Mark asked.

"Callie wanted her to stay with her and as much as I tried to point out what family night meant... you know how she is. Once she made a decision, there's no changing her mind."

And there, she saw it again. It was the same look Mark had every time they ran into Callie at the hospital, or every time that week he had been supposed to see Sofia only to be denied any time with her.

Lexie excused herself and went to the bathroom where she let tears run down her cheeks before rinsing her face with water and coming back out. She now knew what she had to do even though it broke her heart.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ <Monday night>~_

Lexie had gotten Meredith to babysit the twins so she and Mark could have some time to talk. She knew what she had to do to protect him and assure that he could get the relationship he had with Callie and Sofia before she came back into the picture.

Lexie looked at herself in her bathroom mirror. For the first time in what seemed like years, she had put makeup in, and not just concealer and mascara, actual makeup. She was also wearing one of her old dresses from back when she would first go out with Mark. It was tight but she didn't mind as she was sure it would be off sooner than later. The final touch was her lipstick. It was one of the few ones that Leslie hadn't gotten into.

As she finished putting it on her lips, Mark ran the doorbell.

"Coming." She said. She gave one last glance at the mirror before closing the light and going downstairs to open the door.

"Wow!" Mark said as he saw her. "You look..."

"Thank you."

They stood there a little over a minute, just looking at each other.

"You want to come in?" She asked him.

"Yeah, sure." He said.

Lexie had put most of the kids' toys away and had arranged the island in her kitchen to look like a fancy restaurant's table.

"It looks great." Mark complimented her.

"Thank you."

"So, what did you cook?"

"Nothing." She admitted. "I ordered Chinese take out."

"Fancy." He teased her.

"Hahaha." Lexie got closer to Mark and put her arms around his neck. "Only, if I eat it now, I'll be too full to do what I planned."

"Tell me more."

"See, there are two places where I put the take out, one is where we are now and the other is in the mini-fridge in my room. You have to options; either you get undressed and we have amazing sex with no one to interrupt and then we eat, or we eat now and you'll never see what I had planned and we'll cut straight to the point."

She really hoped he would take the first option, she wanted one last good memory before she had to do something she was sure he would never forget, or forgive her for.

"You're intriguing me." He said. "But you know me too well, I want to take you to bed."

"That's what I was hoping you'd say."

_~~~_

"I don't think I've ever told you this, but I really like your short hair," Mark said, as he played with her brown locks.

Lexie snuggled closer to him. She breathed in and counted to three. She had to do it now or she never would.

She pulled away from Mark's embrace and sat on the bed, facing him. The thin sheet was covering up her chest and her hand was the only thing keeping it up there.

"Everything is okay?" Mark asked her.

"We need to talk."

"I'm all ears."

"Mark, I..." she started.

She could feel the tears coming. She didn't want to do this, but she had to. It was the only way to repair everything she had broken.

"You have to understand that I love you, so much."

"I love you too." He said as he put his hand on her knee.

"I don't want to do this, but I have to." Tears were already running down her cheeks. "I love you so much, and that's the only reason I'm doing this because if I don't, I'll just keep causing you pain."

"Lexie, what are you talking about?" He said as he sat on the bed, facing her.

"I'm talking about Callie and Sofia. The fact that you can't see your daughter and that your best friend won't talk to you under any circumstances."

Mark lifted his hand and cupped her face. "That's not your fault. Give Callie more time and she'll adapt."

"Don't make this harder than it already is."

"Than don't do it, please."

Lexie put her hand on his, his forehead was now touching hers.

"I can't take anything else away from you. And so, we have to stop  _this_. It hurts you more than it should if it was what was best for you."

"Lex..."

"I'm breaking up with you, I'm stopping whatever this was before we get too involve in it. I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too." He said.

He let her hand go and got out of bed. He took his clothes and put them back on. Lexie gave him his jacket and on that, he left as tears came out.

Lexie just lay on her back, waiting to hear the sound of the front door closing to let herself be broken, to cry out al the tears she still had. Because even though she had promised to never cry over him again, she couldn't help but do.

Mark closed the front door and put his hands in his pockets, looking for his keys. That's not what he found. He could feel the gentle touch of the little back box against his finger. It seemed heavier now. He took it out and looked at it. Boy did that diamond shine as the moon reflected on it.


	12. Family Dinners and Car Rides?

"Incoming," April yelled as she pushed a gurney into the ER. "Grey, you need to look at her head. There's a possible head and spine injury. The car hit his side of the vehicle."

"I'm on it," Lexie told the other surgeon. As they made their way to one of the rooms, Lexie opened the patient's eyes and move her flashlight from left to right and right to left into his eyes, looking for possible signs of brain activity. "There's definitely a head trauma. I need to operate as soon as I can."

"Okay, let's go," April said as she pushed the gurney* into the OR 4 direction. "Tell OR 4 we're coming and page Dr. Torres, I need her to look at the patient's arm, tell her there's a possibility of amputation."

They got into the OR and placed the patient's gurney next to the table and let the nurse do their job. Both April and Lexie went to scrub in.

"I hate this kind of case," Lexie told her friend. "All of this could've been prevented if the other driver hadn't been drinking and if he had actually stopped at the red light."

"I know. It's one of the worst situations to work on."

At that moment, Callie walked in and Lexie could feel the room tensing up.

"Dr. Kepner." She saluted the doctor and then paused only to start again with a tone almost inviting disgust. "Dr. Grey."

The three surgeons didn't talk for the rest of the process.

Lexie could feel Callie's staring at her. She didn't know if Mark had talked about their break up already or not. Either way, she was prepared for the worst.

As she started to cut open the man's head, Callie let out a small laugh of annoyance.

"Dr. Torres, may I ask what makes you laugh," April asked her.

"Oh, nothing," Callie said, leaving a moment of silence before she continued. "I'm just so surprised at how right I was about Little Grey's intentions towards Mark."

"Callie," Lexie warned the other surgeon. "That's none of your business."

"He is the father of my child."

"And he's the father of my three children," Lexie said back. "And the relationship I had or have with him does not concern you as it is between him and I. Please leave it like that."

Callie stopped talking for about one hour before she started again. "I warned him. But did he listen? No, of course not. You manipulated him. You got knocked up and you needed a suitable father figure so you chose him. I saw right through you. I knew you'd hurt him again, that's what you do best."

"Callie!" April scolded her.

"It's alright, April. I know what she thinks of me. If only she had been around the past two weeks, maybe Mark's heart wouldn't be broken again." She was referencing to Callie's refusal to see Mark after she had learned him and Lexie were back together. "I'm not the only one to blame it's just easier for her to only acknowledge that only one of us is guilty."

And on that, they spend the rest of the surgery in silence. Sometimes glances were exchanged and the atmosphere was tensed.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~~~

Lexie only had two hours left to her shift and wanted to spend them sleeping as she had to go pick up her kids from school and she was quite exhausted. She knew just the right place. The typical on-call rooms were usually used by the interns to sleep or to hook up, but this one was far enough for all of them to not have the time to get there before they either tore each other's clothes off or before they fell asleep right then and there.

As she got there, she could hear the unusual sound of giggles and moans coming from the room. She was known for being severe with intern and resident and she wouldn't let fatigue stop her from keeping up with her reputation. She knocked on the door three times. "This is a place to sleep, not for you to hook up, you have your own apartment for that." She was tapping her foot on the ground, waiting for whoever was in there to come out. She had the reputation of being one of the meanest attending, most of it was built on pregnancy hormones and mood swings, and she knew she had to keep it up to be respected and she kind of enjoyed being feared.

At first, it was a blonde bimbo looking nurse who came out, her uniform inside out. She was giggling and red as could be when she came out. Then appeared her male companion. At first, All Lexie saw was the sheet covering the man's genitals and abdomen. Then she looked up slowly. She knew this body way too well. She had known this body so many nights.

"Mark..." Lexie started.

"Hey, can you let me finish next time." He said as he looked at her with cold eyes.

"What the f*ck are you doing. I thought your man-whore days were far behind. You can't just go around f*cking nurses, this hospital has rules now." She said almost yelling, again partially due to the hormones and also because she knew she was the cause of this.

"I guess that I had a relapse then, but I also went back to you so how good can my judgment be?" He replied to her.

"I..." She didn't know how to answer that. He was so mean suddenly.

"Yep, that's what I thought." He said as he picked up his shirt and passed by her.

Lexie just stared at him as he walked away, unable to get the image of him and the nurse out of her head and also, truly heartbroken.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~~~

 **Family dinner Friday night?** Arizona texted Lexie.

 **You're sure I won't bot** **h** **er all of you?** Lexie texted back. She knew how Callie felt about her and how Mark probably hated her by now and she didn't want to be stuck in a room with them while all of their kids played together.  **Mark can take the twins, I don't have to come.**

**Nonsense, you're part of the family. You have to come!**

**Okay.** Lexie texted back. She couldn't say no to Arizona. From the moment they had known the twins were Mark's, Arizona had tried so hard to make her wife like Lexie and make the latest feel part of their little weird family unit. She really appreciated Arizona's efforts, but she knew they were useless at this point and didn't know how to tell the blonde.

**Can we do it at your place? I think it was your turn to host anyway.**

**Okay... I guess.** The brunette answered.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~~~

Lexie's biggest fear this week had been the family dinner. She had been trying to get it off her mind for the past couple of days and now that it was minutes away, she hated it even more. She had cooked pasta for which she was sure Callie would make a snarky comment. She had put together, well she had paid for someone to put together swings in her backyard for the kids to play on. She felt as if every little improvement might help her win the favors of the judges. As if she was on a tv show, how ridiculous.

The bell rang and both of her kids ran to the door.

"It's Callie and Arizona and Sofia!" Brian screamed at his mother.

"Can you open the door." She said as she was reaching for the breadstick that was still in the oven.

Leslie did what her mother asked and opened the door to let the three ladies in. She hugged Sofia and Arizona right away and then awkwardly stared at Callie.

"You wanna go play on our swings?" Brian asked his half-sister. "Mama just bought them for us. There's three so we can each have one and then there one for the baby."

"That's still a thing?" Callie asked loud enough for only her wife to hear."

"Callie, stop it!" Arizona scolded her wife as she togged her sleeve.

Lexie walked in right at that moment, her apron still on, coming in to greet her guests.

"So sorry, I was making sure the breadsticks weren't burning. You want a glass of wine? I have been also."

"I'll take a glass of wine," Callie said, clearly preparing for the most awful night of her life.

"I'll take care of that." Arizona said with a smile." You should be sitting down, knowing you you've been working on the dinner all day."

"I'm fine," Lexie answered.

"Just sit down, I'll take care of it." She said as she pointed to one of the barstools next to the island in the kitchen.

The doorbell rang again and Lexie quickly walked to it and opened the door. On the other side, the blonde nurse was standing her hand on Mark's arm, smiling at Lexie. Mark looked at her with so much hate that Lexie felt filthy.

"Come... come in." She said as she stepped away from the door. She felt something coming up her throats, something she hadn't felt since the beginning of her second trimester. "You know how to get to the kitchen? I'll be there in a sec."

She ran up the stairs to her bathroom, she didn't want it to smell down there were Callie would be quick to judge her. One thing she hadn't seen when she walked up there was the look on Mark's face, it was about the same look he had had when he had the last time he had left her house.

The vomit escaped Lexie's lips as soon as she was over the toilet seat. When she was done, she took one of her hand towel and wet it and rinsed her face with it. She looked at herself in the mirror and headed back downstairs.

"So who are his kids again?" She heard the bimbo nurse ask.

"Hum, there's Sofia, my daughter," Arizona responded, clearly trying her best to be polite with the unannounced guest. "She' also Callie's daughter, that's my wife. And then there are the twin, Leslie, and Brian." And as she saw Lexie approaching, she pointed to her stomach to show who was the last one of Mark's children. "And then there the one right in there."

"Oh! Isn't she a little old to be his kid though?" The nurse asked.

And now Lexie was really wondering how this night was gonna go down.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~~~

After the clown show that had been their last family dinner, Le it was expecting the parent-teacher conference night to go as well, if not worse. Meredith was driving her to the school where she was also attending the conference for Zola.

"This is gonna suck," Lexie told her sister.

"Think positively."

"Who are you?!" She exclaimed. "Where's my sister? She'd never say that!l

"I was trying to be positive, you're the one who's positive usually and with your new attitude, I feel really uncomfortable, I was just trying to even it up."

"Well don't, it's clearly going to suck."

They both got out of the car and Lexie left to go to Leslie's class. There she saw Mark sitting on the little children's chairs set up outside of the classroom. She sat down next to him. She hadn't know if he'd show up when she had talked to him about it earlier that week. She sat there and didn't say a word, not even a hello.

"Leslie Grey's parents." The teacher called out. Mark got up and Lexie followed slowly, her pregnancy was slowing her down specially when she had to get up. Mark didn't even look at her or tried to help her.

"Are you alone?" The teacher asked Mark as he sat down. Then she saw Lexie walk in.

"Okay, you're both here. Let's start. Your daughter is doing amazing. The only reason an appointment was set for you was because she's new and I don't think I had any of her siblings and I just wanted to know her parents." She then starred at Mark, thinking for a moment. "You're Sofia's father, right?"

"Yes." He said.

"I didn't know you had any other children."

"I do." He simply answered her. "I just didn't know it until less than a year ago." He said so only lexie could hear.

"Okay then. It was really nice seeing both of you." She said as she got up and walked them to the door.

Mark and Lexie walked together to Brian's classroom, leaving a distance between the both of them. As they got to the room, Lexie looked at her watch. Great, they had 15 minutes to kill. They sat next to each other.

"You didn't have to say that in front of her," Lexie told her ex.

"And you didn't have to hide that from me for over 4 years, but you did."

"Really? I thought you were over that."

"Apparently I am not." He said.

They waited for the remaining time in silence.

"You must be Brian's parents." The teacher asked them.

"Yes," Lexie said as she smiled at her.

"Come on in."

Mark got up and was ready to leave Lexie behind again when she said his name.

"Mark." She said, almost whispering. "Could you help me please?"

He walked over to her and took her arms. He helped her get up and gave her a look she had last seen like what seemed an eternity ago.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


~~~

Lexie was waiting outside the school, her purse in her hand and looking out at the parking lot. Meredith has been paged and had left, leaving Lexie a message on her phone. Mark, Callie, and Arizona came out of the school, they were laughing, obviously pleased by how Sofia was doing in school. Arizona was the first one to see Lexie, she immediately smiled and waved at her. The two others saw her soon after. The group walked over to her and they started talking.

"So how are the twins doing?" Arizona asked her.

"They're doing great. Brian has some issues with math but other than that, they're both doing great."

"That's good to hear," Arizona said as she smiled to her colleague. "Where's Meredith? I thought you came with her."

"I did but she got paged and had to leave before we were out of Leslie's class."

"Is anyone taking you home?" Callie asked. It was more to be polite than genuine interest but it was still a huge step in the right direction.

"No. I was thinking of taking a uber but the app isn't working." She said as she waved her phone.

"Mark can take you." Arizona offered. "Your house is on his way home. Plus I'm sure you have a lot to talk about with the little one coming in only 8 weeks."

"I'll take you home," Mark affirmed reluctantly.

"Thank you. I guess I'll see you two at work tomorrow then."

The surgeons said their goodbyes and Mark showed the way to his car to Lexie. He had recently bought a minivan which Lexie found funny as Mark was always someone who prided himself about never needing one. He opened the passenger's door for her and helped her get into the car.

"Thank you," Lexie told him.

He started the car and they both stayed silent for a few minutes.

"I quite liked Leslie's teacher," Lexie said.

"Yeah, I definitely would bang her if she worked at the hospital." He said half knocking half-serious.

"That's not funny Mark."

"I'm not trying to be funny. I'm  _man-whore Mark_ , don't you remember. I hadn't even gone back to being him after you left for Boston. How stupid was I to think it would work this time around. I should've listen to Callie."

"Because Callie is always right." She said as she rolled her eyes. "She took your child away from you for two weeks but of course she had good reasons."

"You took my children away from me for five years, You don't have a say in that." He said abruptly.

"I just wanted to make you happy." She said a tear in her eye.

"I was happy... you just couldn't handle living a simple life." He said knowing it would hurt her. That's what he wanted to make her feel, pain. The same one he was feeling.

"Mark, I..."

"You don't need to justify yourself. I was wrong and Callie was right. And I turned back into something I despise, but hey, you were trying to make me happy."

"You don't even want to hear it. You're acting like such a child."

"I'm the child?! You're the one who keeps on changing her mind. One day you want to play happy family, the next you don't and now you want to be friends. Make up your mind. I'm so tired of..."

"Mark!" She interrupted him.

"Let me speak. Don't I have a say in this?" He said as he turned his head to look at her.

"Mark!" She warned him again." There's a car! There's a c..."

But she was too late, he hadn't seen it and it had just hit the side of his car he was on. Lexie could feel the shock through her whole body. The car rolled on itself. She was still awake. She could hear people screaming. She opened her eyes and looked around.

Everything was blurry. She could see the sparkle of a jewel that had escaped the glove box and she could see the form of Mark's body, he wasn't moving. She closed her eyes and opened them again. She could see more clearly now. Mark's eyes were wide opened, but his facial expression was blank and blood was dripping down his mouth.

"Mark." She called out. He wasn't answering, his body wasn't even responding. "Mark?! Somebody help me!" She screamed as tears rolled down her cheeks.


	13. Coma and Amnesia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, sorry to have you waiting. I'm busy with school and work. Thanks for sticking with me, hopefully, you like what's coming and you won't try to kill me.

Lexie was screaming for help. She couldn't move and help him herself because she knew that if she was to try anything she'd injure herself and the baby in the process. But as a surgeon, her second nature was to help. It was to fix and yet, she couldn't do anything to fix Mark or save him. She was lying there, useless.

"Come on!" She yelled. "You can't leave me. Not now. Not when all your children need you. Please, just breathe." She wanted him safe, she needed him alive, her children needed him alive.

She could hear the sirens of the ambulances and the police cars. They had to come faster. If they could just arrive fast enough maybe then Mark would be okay. Maybe he'd live. Maybe she'd get to tell him she loved him again.

Suddenly Mark opened his eyes. He looked at her and closed them, but now Lexie could see his neck move as he breathed.

The medical personnel came to her first. Lexie knew she was mostly fine, she wasn't the one who had received the direct impact.

"Get to him first." She told the paramedic.

"M'mam, just let us do our job. We know what we're doing." The medic told her.

Lexie grabbed the man's hand and forced him to stop. "I know you're doing your job, but you're doing it wrong. The car hit his side. And until a minute ago, he wasn't breathing so help. Him. First."

"M'mam, just stay calm we'll take care of both of you." His colleague said as he went to see Mark.

The medic put a neck brace around Lexie's neck to stabilize it before he and another medic placed her on the gurney and they drive off in direction of SGMW.

As they drove there, all Lexie could do was pray to God that her baby had made it and that Mark was going to be okay. She didn't know how she'd live without either of them.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ 5 minutes later_ _~_

Lexie was rolled out of the ambulance and into the ER by April.

"33 years old female. Around 7 months pregnant. No apparent head injury. No broken bone." The medic informed April.

"Lexie?" April asked in shock. But the feeling of shock only was apparent for a fraction of second as the trauma surgeon regained her usual composure and directed the resident and intern present around her. "Let's get her into bed 5. Get me a general consult!"

Lexie grabbed April's hand as they licked the wheels of her gurney into place before letting her onto the ER bed. "April, Mark was hit too. I need to know that he's okay."

"I'll update you as soon as I have any news. We're just gonna focus on you and your baby for now. Okay?"

With the help of one resident and an intern, April and the medic lifted Lexie onto the bed. April instructed the intern to get her an ultrasound machine as she and the resident inspected Lexie's body to make sure that there where no fractures or anything that might indicate the need for surgery.

As they were doing that, Lexie could hear the other doctors outside taking care of Mark. She had heard that Meredith had been called in and so had Amelia. She knew that this meant that the prognostic wasn't good.

"We need blood." She heard Meredith say.

None of this was good. None of this should've happened. None of this would've happened if she hadn't broken up with him in the first place. They wouldn't have been fighting and she could've gotten the chance to tell him she loved him.

"Lexie? Hey, Lexie?" April called her friend to get her attention. "Other than Monod scratches and bruises, you'll be fine, but I still need to have a look to make sure your baby is okay."

"Yes," Lexie answered as she lifted up her shirt. April put the cold greenish translucid gel on her abdomen and out the ultrasound wand on it. In a matter of seconds, she found the baby's heartbeat. "Oh my god!" Lexie whispered. "It's okay? Thank you, God!"

"Your baby is doing just fine," April reassured her. "I'm going to ask Arizona for a consult when she gets in tomorrow, but I think you have all the chances to carry this peanut to full term. In the meantime, I'm going to have you stay here overnight, just to make sure everything is okay with you and your baby."

"Do you have any news on Mark?" Lexie asked the redhead.

"Not yet. He's still in surgery." She answered.

And for the first time, Lexie thought about a thing that should've crossed her mind. "Who's with Leslie and Bryan? If Amelia is in there with him and so is Mer? Who's got the twins?"

"Owen," April said with a reassuring smile on her face. "Amelia asked Owen to take care of them, don't worry about them for now, they're sleeping."

This information seemed to appease Lexie and April left. Lexie was now waiting to be transferred to a room upstairs. She used that time to think. Think about so much of the past year she felt like she had screwed up. First, the way Mark found out the twins were his and then their one-night stand and her telling him it was a mistake. Then he found out she was pregnant and everything after that from their "only sex" thing to their break up. She had messed up so much of their relationship. So many moments missed. And that that bling from the car crash came back into her mind. That sparkly diamond ring that had gotten out of his glove compartment. Had he planned to propose all along? Was it even for her? Will she ever know what he had planned? So much of their story was left to be lived. Would they even get the chance to start again? To find each other once again?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ the next morning_ _~_

Lexie woke up to the sound of knocking on her door. She slowly opened her eyes, who were blinded by the bright lights of the hospital.

"Good morning." A cheery voice greeted her. "April asked me to have a look at your little been."

It was Arizona, Lexie concluded. The surgeon walked close to the bed, dragging the ultrasound machine with her. Lexie lifted up her hospital gown as her eyes finally seemed to adjust to the lighting.

"Mark is out." The blonde woman informed her. "He's still not out of the woods but Meredith and Amelia seemed confident that he was going to be okay."

"That's good," Lexie said.

Arizona sprayed the belly on her bump and put the wand on it, almost immediately finding the heartbeat.

"I know Mark wanted to know the gender, did you ever find it out?" Arizona asked her, trying to diffuse the tension between them.

"No, no we didn't."

_***_

_It was an early Thursday morning. Mark and Lexie were waiting outside of the OB's office for their 24-week appointment. Since their break up, they hadn't seemed to agree on anything._

_"I want to know what it is." The man told his baby mama. "I didn't get to know last time and I'd like to be able to fully prepare for its arrival."_

_"No. We already have one of each. Well, you already have three of one and one son... tats what we know for sure." She told him. It seemed as if every time she had been arguing with him she used the same method to win the argument: referring to his wild man-whore days. "I want this one to be a surprise. And you'll have plenty of time to fully prep its room in your apartment as it will not live with you for the first few months."_

_"Lexie, that's not fair."_

_"How is it not fair. A newborn needs its mother more than anyone else and that's why it will stay with me."_

_Mark didn't have time to respond as the technician called them in. She prepared Lexie and asked the pair the usual question Lexie had been prepared to say no to._

_"Do we want to know the gender?"_

_***_

"I want to know," Lexie told Arizona

"You want to know what!"

"Tell me my baby's gender." She answered.

"But I thought you didn't..."

"Now I do." She interiors the other surgeon. "I have no idea how Mark is or how long he'll be out and I need to be able to tell him. I need some good news."

"Okay," Arizona responded. She moved the wand to get a better view of the baby's genitals. She moved the screen towards Lexie and freezes her frame. "See here?" She asked as she pointed the screen. "That's your baby's genitals. You're having a girl."

Lexie smiled. Mark would be so happy she thought to herself.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ Later that day~_

After her children left, Lexie asked to go see Mark. April had refused that she walked there as her body had just lived through a traumatic event. And so, she got, more like bullied, one of the interns to get her and her wheelchair to his room. When she got in front of it, she dismissed the intern and got herself inside.

Callie was at Mark's bedside and looked up as she heard Lexie coming closer. "He wouldn't want you here." She told the brunette.

"I'd bet on the contrary," Lexie responded.

"You already broke him, Grey, now leave him get better alone."

"I'm not leaving him. Not this time, not ever again."

"Well, that's too late," Callie said as she got up. "You're the one who got him into this position. If you hadn't been in that car, he'd been at his apartment playing with our daughter. Not in this hospital bed fighting for his life."

"Callie, it wouldn't have mattered if I was in the car or not. It was a drunk driver. He still would be here and you still would find a way to put the blame on me." She told her.

"She's right, you know," Arizona told her wife from the door frame. "Let her have a moment with him. I'll get the nurse to page us if he wakes up, you need to eat."

Callie Wales towards her wife, leaving Lexie alone with her ex. "I'm not doing this for you. This is for Mark."

"Thank you," Lexie said.

The brunette took Mark's hand into hers. She liked the feeling of his skin on hers. She hates seeing him this way, weak and fragile. She had only seen him that way a couple times before; when she broke his manhood, when his daughter left and when she did. And now she promised herself to do all she could to never seen him that way again. She stole his cheek, remembering the last time she did the same thing, as her lips caressed his. She had been sure then that she would never get to do it again.

"It's a girl, Mark. We're having a baby girl." She said as water filled her eyes. "She's gonna need her dad. Your children need their dad." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I need you. I love you, so much." She pressed her lips against his hand, waiting for something to change, for him to give her a sign, anything.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_~ a week later~_

Lexie got paged as she ate in the cafeteria with April. "It's Mark." She told her friend. "He's awake."

"Go!" April encouraged her.

Lexie got up and left the room as fast as her almost 7 and a half months pregnant body would let her. As she arrived in front of his room, she could see him sitting up in his bed, laughing with Callie and Arizona. His smile brighten when she walked in.

"Hey!" She said.

"You came back for me?" He asked her.

"Of course I did." She said as she entered the room. Her baby bump was more apparent now. "As Shepherd seen him?" She asked Callie.

"Not yet."

"You're pregnant," Mark said.

"It's been almost 8 months Mark." She told him. "It's a girl. I know I said I didn't want to know but I had to. You were in a coma and I just had to."

"We're having a girl!" He looked at her, his eyes filled with joy.

"We're having a girl." She confirmed.

Then, Amelia walked in, with her usual overconfident posture. "Someone asked for a consult?"

"Amelia!" Mark exclaimed. "I'm happy to see you! But where's Derek? Shouldn't she be the one doing my consult? Isn't LA a little far from Seattle?"


	14. Amnesia and Baby Daddy Who?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't wait very long, did you? I forgot to publish chapter 13 here after I published it on wattpad a couple of months backs, and so you get two for the price of one.

Everyone stood in shock, Mark forgetting everything that had happen for who knows how long was another blow. This was unfair, after all they went through, after all the trauma everyone endured these past years, why was this happening to then once more?

 

"Mark," Amelia was the first to speak, "What year are we?" She asked. "What's the last thing you remember?"

 

Mark looked around, he could see all of their worries in their faces, what was going on? As a doctor, he knew this couldn't be good, that this meant his head trauma was worse than what Callie had told him, that maybe, they didn't know the extent of it.

 

"It's 2011, why?" He answered. He knew he was wrong just by the faces his friends made, by Callie's sigh. "What year are we?" He asked, his voice still remaining calm but hints of panic escaping his throat.

 

Callie took his hand in his, Arizona doing the same. He needed the support, he would need it even more by the time they would tell him everything he knew but forgot. Every little devastating detail of the past seven years would crush him. He wasn't aware of it anymore, but in the space of the last few years, his whole life had changed. He had lost the love of his life, tried to get his love life back on track, but only failing, he had almost lost his daughter and best friend, he had lost Derek, he had learned that the love of his life had kept their children away from him, they had fallen back in love and created a new life together only for all of it to come falling down once more. 

 

"It's 2018 Mark," Amelia said, as she came closer to him. A sad smile on her face, trying her best to make this news pass as easily as it could. "You were in a car crash, Lexie was with you, you almost didn't make it, but you're here and that's what you should focus on." She sat on his bed. "I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but even if you forgot it, you have a life. You'll need some help to get back where you were, it won't be easy and it might never happen, but you have the best support system to do so. We'll all be here with you, every single one of us will do our best to help you."

 

"I don't get it... how could I forget my life?" He looks at everyone in shock. Yes, they were different. Callie and Arizona looked older, Lexie had shorter hair and a prominent belly which he had just learned was where his child was growing. All of this seemed strange, how could he forget almost a decade of his life. "I need to see Derek, I have to talk to him."

 

"You need some rest, we'll talk more tomorrow and we'll establish a plan for you, okay? Now sleep some more, I'll be back to check up on you."

 

On that Amelia left, leaving the three women and Mark alone together.  

 

"What's your last memory?" Callie immediatly asked. 

 

"I was driving back home from your baby shower at the hospital. I got a call, and then nothing." Mark looked at Lexie, as though she was a divine apparition. "When I first woke up, I thought that's when I had the accident, now I'm lost. Where's the baby? I mean our kid."

 

"She's at school," Arizona answered smiling at him. "She's been coming here to see you almost daily. She couldn't wait for her daddy to wake up."

 

"So it's a girl?" He looked happy and sad at the same time, he had a daughter. A child he had seen grow since her very first moments on earth. At this time, he had no idea who she was, what she looked like or how much he really loved her. "What's her name?"

 

"Sofia," Callie answered softly. "She's the life of the party, you're her favorite even though she won't say it, we all know it."

 

And suddenly, Lexie felt as if she wasn't supposed to be there. It was one of those moments where she could see the family they formed, the family she wasn't a part of. The family Callie kept on reminding her she'd never be in. She felt the need to throw up. The urge was so strong, she had to run out of the room and head straight for the nearest garbage. And came out everything she felt she had ingested in the last week. She wanted to scream, to scream at the universe how unfair this was. How unfair al of this situation was. Her kids had just gotten their father backs a couple of months ago and now they'd lost him again. She would have to explain everything to him once more, she'd have to break his heart again, he'd feel all the pain she had inflicted him again as if it had all just happened. How was she suppose to do that? How was she supposed to explain to her children that their father had no memory of them? That he would be a stranger to them again? 

She hated the world and it hated her too, why else would it make her go through everything she did only to have her do it again? As she was bent over the trash can, a hand stroke her back. She got up to look at who it was. April. She knew Lexie needed a friend, someone who didn't care about whatever she had done and would support her and never judge her.

 

"You're okay?" The redhead asked her.

 

"I'm not sure. I'm not sure of anything anymore." She told her friend as she wept tears away. "What am I supposed to do?"

 

"What feels right to you. No one can impose you what you need to tell him. You don't need to make him, or you for that matter, go through it again. Even Callie can't make you do that."

 

"How am I supposed to face him after this? How am I supposed to face our children? How do you even tell 6 years olds that their father has no idea who they are? They didn't even get to have him long enough and now they lost him." She was crying again. She couldn't contain her tears.

 

"You don't have to, not for now. Jackson and I can take care of them tonight, I'll go get them at school and we'll have a sleepover. You'll be able to think and figure out what you wanna do."

 

The brunette hugged her friend. "Thank you so much April, I don't know what I'd do without you."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-later that night-

Lexie had changed after he shift, but she hadn't been able to go home. She needed to see Mark again, but she couldn't do so with Callie or Arizona in the room. Even if the later had been more accepting of her, she wanted to be alone with him. She just wanted a moment to look at him, to be near him. To make sure the man she loved was okay.

And so, Lexie waited until the couple had gone home to go to Mark's room. It was passed 9 pm and he was sleeping. She took a pillow from the nurse station to make herself comfortable and sat in the chair next to his bed. For a quarter of an hour, she sat there, memorizing all of his traits. After a while, she took his hand in hers, stroking it. "I never wanted this to go this wrong. I shouldn't have done what I did, even if I saw it as a way to preserve the life you had. I'm so sorry Mark." Tears ran down her face as she continued. "When I thought I was losing you when you stopped breathing, I just lost it. I can't lose you. Not after all the time, we lost together. I love you. I just didn't want to hurt you and instead, I made it worse."

 

His hand moved, cupping her cheek in it. "I love you too." He said a faint smile appeared on her face. "Whatever you did, I'm sure I already forgave you." 

 

"You wouldn't say that if you knew what I've done." She said as she removed her head from his palm. "Sorry, I didn't mean to"

 

"It okay. I don't care what you've done, not for now. All I want right now is for you to be with me." He said as he managed to make space for her in his hospital bed. "I know it's not ideal considering your condition, but if you're going to stay here all night, you might as well be as comfortable as possible."

 

She climbed into his bed, making herself as small as she could. Mark put his arm around her, his hand on her baby bump, gently stroking it. For the first time in a while, Lexie felt at peace. She felt as though this is where she belongs. 

 

"You said it was a girl." He said and she nodded. "Our very own baby girl."

 

Lexie felt a knot form in her stomach, he didn't know about Brian and Leslie. No one had told him yet. She took a deep breath and prepared herself. "Our third little baby."

 

"Our  _third_?" Mark questioned.

 

"Yeah, our third baby after Brian and Leslie. The twins can't wait for her to be born."

 

"Twins... we had twins." Lexie knew it was hard for him to take it in. Prior to now, he had no idea about them, Lexie knew that he wouldn't because he wasn't even aware of their existence until very recently. "I bet they're just like you."

 

"If only, they're your mini-mes. Leslie might look like me but she acts just like you and Brian, Brian is like you in every way. All I see is you in him and some times I even ask myself if there's a little part of me in him."

 

"How old are they?" He asked you can hear his voice crack. You knew how painful it was for him to not know or remember knowing his children. She'd been there when Sloane came into his life, she'd seen first hand how his child growing up without him and how it affected him. She had inflicted him the same thing with the twins for the first five years of their lives. 

 

"They're a few months younger than Sofia."  After she gave him this new information, she waited for him to ask her why he had no memory of her pregnant or of this information, but he didn't ask her anything. Instead, he just held her tighter.

 

They fell asleep for a few hours before Lexie had to get out of bed, with his help, to go to the bathroom. When she came back, he had something in his hand, but she didn't question him on it, she climbed back in bed and got herself into the position she was before she went to the bathroom. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before Mark talked again.

 

"They found this with me, at the crash." he opened his hand, leaving the ring he'd picked out few months back in plain sight, for everyone to see. "I don't remember buying it, but what I know for sure is that it's meant to be yours."

 

She didn't know what to say, the only other time she glanced at it was right after the accident, but then she didn't even give it a second thought, from where she was it could've been anything. "You didn't... we weren't there yet Mark."

 

"That's what I assumed when they gave it back to me. I don't remember what was between us, but I know what I wan to do with it now."

 

"I can't, not now." She said as she closed his fist on it. "Let's not talk about this now. I'm tired and Amelia said you should get some sleep."

 

Mark agreed and kissed her head. He wanted to do much more but his injuries and her big belly kept him from doing so. And so they fell asleep in each others' arms. The ring fell from Mark's hand, landing right next to the one Lexie had rested on the bed. They'd have years to share anyway, why not just enjoy the moment they lived in?


End file.
